Al Di Meola Reworks ‘Uncle John’s Band’ To Honor Bob Weir In Fort Lauderdale
Watch the jazz great debut his Grateful Dead cover at Parker Playhouse.
By Scott Bernstein Jan 16, 2026 • 1:42 pm PST
Al Di Meola and Bob Weir are two legendary musicians who forged new ground with their inventive guitar playing. Di Meola combined the two styles last night (Thursday, January 17) when he debuted his arrangement of “Uncle John’s Band” during his concert at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a tribute to the late Grateful Dead co-founding guitarist.
Before coming to fame in 1974 when he joined Chick Corea’s Return To Forever ensemble, Di Meola spent many nights in the late ’60s and early ’70s at Grateful Dead concerts. Al Di Meola has fond memories of those days. The pioneering musician was prompted to salute the Grateful Dead guitarist following Bob Weir's death at age 78 from underlying lung issues that took him down despite beating cancer.
Al Di Meola addressed the crowd ahead of the “Uncle John’s Band” performance with his acoustic band. He talked about how much fun he had with his friends at Grateful Dead concerts. “It was a dynamite time and I miss it,” Di Meola said. The guitarist then revealed he’d never performed a Grateful Dead song before and was going to do so for the audience in memory of Bob Weir.
Di Meola’s wife, Stephanie, prepped an impressive array of GD/Weir images that were displayed behind the band as they rolled out their instrumental rendition of the Hunter/Garcia-penned classic from the Dead’s iconic 1970 album Workingman’s Dead.
Watch footage shared by Di Meola and two fan-shot videos of “Uncle John’s Band” below:
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The Bergenfield, New Jersey native was among those who shared memories of Bob Weir on social media shortly after the GD guitarist’s death was confirmed. “I’m deeply saddened—crushed, really—by the passing of Bob Weir. I saw the Dead countless times during my high school years at the Fillmore East in the Village, with Garcia, Lesh, Hart, and Kreutzmann. What a beautiful time it was—the end of the ’60s, early ’70s. It was a magic era,” Di Meola wrote.
Read the rest of Al Di Meola’s note:
I’ll never forget the journeys into the city to see them, and the five blocks from the subway station with streets lined with the sights and scents of incense, weed, hippies, fringe jackets, day-glo posters, peace signs everywhere, record stores, and more. The whole vibe that the Dead and other San Francisco bands created was an integral part of my teenage years.
A couple of years ago, my buddy and concert promoter Danny Zelisko connected Bob and me on a conference call—in the hopes that we would play together—that lasted more than an hour. We talked about music, life back then, and how Jerry Garcia was a big fan of mine. I had a smile on my face the entire call. It was yet another surreal moment for me.
He will be missed. Sending my love to his beautiful family. If Bob could hear me, I’d say the same thing I said to him that night on the phone call we shared two years ago:
“Thank you for all the great times you guys gave us all in the Bill Graham era.” ❤️🙏
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