John Mayer broke down in tears as he paid tribute to Grateful Dead star Bob Weir during a public memorial

Mayer - who played with Weird in Grateful Dead spin-off group Dead and Company - started his speech by telling the audience how he shared a birthday with his late pal, who was born on the same day 30 years earlier. He told the crowd: "In the 30 years that preceded me, Bob had become a countercultural icon.

"I was a child of the 1980s. I come from a world of structural thinking, the concept, the theorizing, the reassessing, the perfecting.

"Bob learned early on that spirit, heart, soul, curiosity, and fearlessness was the path to glory. We both found success with each of our templates, and then we found each other."

Mayer went on to recall working with his hero, adding: "Over the course of a decade, we came to trust each other.

"He taught me, among many other things, to trust in the moment, and I'd like to think I taught him a little bit to rely on a plan, not as a substitute for the divine moments, but as a way to lure them in a little closer.

"I guess maybe what I was really doing was showing him he could rely on me. Bob took a chance on me. He staked his entire reputation on my joining a band with him. He gave me musical community, he gave me this community."

Rolling Stone reports Mayer then broke down in tears as he shared memories of his pal, saying: "He lent me his songbook, invited me into the worlds he'd constructed, and taught me what the songs meant and what it meant to perform them.

"In return, I gave him everything I had night after night, year after year."

Mayer concluded by saying: "There are a lot of Grateful Dead lyrics that give comfort at a time like this, but the line I find myself thinking about the most is from a Leon Russell song called A Song for You.

"I'd like to think I can hear Bobby saying these words to us all this afternoon: 'But now I'm so much better, so if my words don't come together, listen to the melody because my love is in there hiding.' And so we will all keep listening together."

Mayer was then joined on stage by Weir's family and friends as well as his Grateful Dead bandmate Mickey Hart and Dead and Company musicians Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge for a performance of Grateful Dead's 1970 track Ripple.

The event - which was opened with a prayer by four Buddhist monks - also featured a speech by folk veteran Joan Baez. Fans carried red roses which was placed on an alter adorned with pictures and candles.