Dead & Company honors the late Bill Walton with enormous floral displays as a moving tribute

Dead & Company paid tribute to longtime Grateful Dead fan Bill Walton with dozens of enormous roses during the band’s first show since the NBA legend’s death earlier this week.

The NBA Hall of Fame center, who died Monday after battling cancer, said he learned “how to become a champion‘ because of the Grateful Dead and wrote in his 2016 memoir that he attended more than 850 concerts by the band.

Dead & Company – a spin-off band featuring members of the Grateful Dead – showed love to the late 6-foot-2 Deadhead with a performance of “Fire on the mountain” during the band’s residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The venue’s 160,000-square-foot screen flashed photos of the NBA icon supporting both The Dead and Dead & Company at a number of shows and events over the years.

A sea of ​​roses fell among the photos before a tie-dye style “WALTON 32” image appeared on the screen, a nod to the NBA legend’s jersey number.

The crowd in Las Vegas roared with applause as the band ended the performance while the image remained on the screen.

Mickey Hart, a percussionist for Dead & Company and a drummer for the Grateful Dead, greeted Walton on social media before the concert.

“Tonight we pulse, we tremble, we dance for Bill. The BIGGEST deadhead in the world!” He wrote.

Dead & Company wrote in a social media post after Walton’s death that the band “loves him more than words can say.”

“Bill was an irreplaceable force and spirit in our family. Father Time, Rhythm Devil, greatest deadhead ever. Over 1000 shows and couldn’t get enough. He loved this band and we loved him,” wrote Dead & Company on X.

Pearl Jam also paid tribute to Walton with a performance of “Man of the Hour” during the band’s show in Seattle on Tuesday.

Singer Eddie Vedder said in remarks during the concert that Walton was a “big man with a big heart‘ who cut a broad path of ‘peace and love behind him’.