Jerry Garcia Band and Bob Weir Are Light Fare

A bearded, be-turbaned fellow roller-skating through the parking lot, banging out manic riffs on a battered Les Paul guitar proved more energetic than most of what the Jerry Garcia Band or Bob Weir offered in their Grateful Dead-Lite sets Friday night at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Weir is one of rock’s best rhythm guitarists--at his finest as a support player, sparking and coloring other’s solo flights. Supplemented only by acoustic bassist Rob Wasserman, Weir and his acoustic guitar found little to underscore. Garcia’s set, meanwhile, cried out for the support Weir’s guitar could have provided. His band lacked the empathy and drive often needed to push Garcia’s skills and corral his excesses, though his guitar work displayed plenty of both in a set loaded with comfortable oldies.

Largely, these two frontmen only served to show, by the absence of the band they front, what a fragile magic it is that makes the Grateful Dead work.