‘We will get by’: MusiCares’ Grateful Dead Gala celebrates ‘community, resilience, generosity’ during emotional Grammy weekend
More than 15 Grammy Week events sponsored by the Recording Academy and many other Grammy-related parties were canceled this year due to January’s devastating Los Angeles fires, with the actual Grammy ceremony, which will still take place on Sunday, Feb. 2, pivoting to focus on raising funds for wildfire relief. But Friday’s MusiCares Persons of the Year Gala, honoring 2007 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients the Grateful Dead, went on as planned. And the annual charitable event actually felt more celebratory than ever, providing much-needed release and escape on the final night of a particularly rough month.
“Their fans are legendary, and their values — community, resilience, generosity — all align with the MusiCares mission,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said of the beloved psychedelic jam band Friday. “They remind us that music is a force for good. This year, though, honoring them carries extra special community. L.A. is home to an incredible music community, and the fires have obviously hit us very hard. … So, as we begin the 2025 Grammy weekend, there’s no better honoree than the Grateful Dead. Their music has uplifted millions, and their philanthropy is legendary.”
More from GoldDerby
As if to prove Mason’s point, early in the evening Dead founder Bob Weir, whom presenter Woody Harrelson declared “one of the most interesting electric, spiritual, deep thinkers on the planet,” spontaneously raised his auction paddle and donated $100,000. By the night’s halfway point, MusiCares executive director Laura Segura was already announcing that $9.3 million had been raised, along with an additional $5.2 million in pledges during the dinner.
Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Throughout the night, Deadheads decked out in tie-dyed tuxedos feasted on rainbow grilled-cheese sandwiches and were up out of their seats, hippie-dancing in the aisles alongside Weir’s delighted daughters Shala and Chloe to performances by Zac Brown, Dwight Yoakam, and John Mayer. Meanwhile, other famous fans shared stories of the lifelong love for the group. For instance, a tie-dyed Harrelson (a self-declared longtime “honorary mascot” of the “founding fathers of a community that inspires love and kindness by providing spiritual, life-changing happenings for generations”) recalled “smoking a fatty with Jerry [Garcia] in the bathroom of the vice-presidential mansion and the band getting the boot by a very angry Al Gore” and accidentally jamming with the Dead after he “popped some fungi” with them in 1991.
Gala host Andy Cohen, a surprise Deadhead, reminisced about driving five hours in his 1972 Buick Skylar convertible to see his first Dead concert at age 18, gushing, “Man, I wish I could bottle the feeling I had standing at the top of that hill. … I felt connected to life and to the people around me in a way that I had not ever before. I felt like I belonged and I felt free. I was on the bus and I never got off.” Cohen then described the Dead as “a full-throttle source of joy and positivity throughout my life,” “eternal reminders that a sense of community and humanity can still be achieved through music,” “the nucleus that has kept a sometimes flaky world pure,” and “the Great American band” — a sentiment that seemed to be shared by everyone in the ballroom and by the Dead’s other A-list admirers who took the stage.
The two-and-a-half hour show — which was overseen by musical director Don Was, and featured late Dead member Phil Lesh’s guitarist son Grahame, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ keyboardist Benmont Tench, and pedal steel legend Greg Leisz in the backing band — kicked off with an orchestral overture of “The Other One” with Weir himself on guitar. The Dead’s catalog then proved surprisingly adaptable to the night’s many performers. Highlights included a soulful “Samson and Delilah” by the War and Treaty, augmented by the double-drum attack of Mick Fleetwood and Steward Copeland; a fiery “One More Saturday Night” by My Morning Jacket with Maggie Rose; a spirited “Bertha” by Zac Brown and Marcus King (which is when the blissful aisle-dancing, atypical of this usually staid and seated event, began in earnest); the War on Drugs’ “Box of Rain” featuring Grahame Lesh on vocals; Noah Kahan and Bela Fleck’s twangy “Friend of the Devil”; indie-rockers Vampire Weekend’s vibey “Scarlet Begonias”; a stunning “It Must Have Been the Roses” by Sierra Ferrell and Lukas Nelson; and Mayer’s 10-minute jam of what Cohen called the “holy grail” of all Dead tunes, “Terrapin Station.”
The most emotional song dedication came from Wynonna Judd, who before belting “Ramble On Rose” declared, “I love you, Robert Weir! You are my family of choice. You showed up for me when my mama died and sang at her funeral. You came to the farm and you sang with me on this next song for my record. I re-recorded this song, and I wish you were up here with me right now.”
Weir and surviving Dead member Mickey Hart, who were in attendance along with the late Jerry Garcia’s daughter Trixie and in-absentia drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s son Justin, appeared absolutely thrilled as they grooved along at their front-row table. After Harrelson’s amusing introduction, Hart quipped in his acceptance speech, “It’s an incredible honor and I’m humbled to stand here tonight, because not too long ago they wouldn’t let us into Disneyland! Our hair was too long and the cops, they were chasing us around the country! Fortunately, they gave up, and we are here tonight.” More seriously, Hart added, “For me, music’s always been more than just sound. It’s a force, a healer. But music doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Music needs a community to play to, and in turn, a community needs its music. We know the power of community, because we’ve lived it. … Music has always been humanity’s greatest healer. It soothes the soul, raises our consciousness, and gives us strength when we need it most.”
Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Weir addressed the L.A. fires tragedy directly. “Teamwork is what it’s going to take to rebuild this town,” he stated. “I learned early on than you’re going to get a lot more done, a lot faster, if you can make a team effort of your tasks. What we have here in Southern California these days is a rebuild that’s going to take some time and effort and an immense amount of teamwork. My guess is it’s going to take a few years, but SoCal will be back, stronger and shinier.” The night ended with Mayer joining the rest of Dead & Company for “Althea,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Touch of Grey,” the latter song’s refrain of “we will get by” poignantly resonating with the Angelenos in attendance.
The 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year benefit took place Friday, Jan. 31 in the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall. The show’s full setlist was:
“Samson and Delilah” — The War and Treaty with Mick Fleetwood and Steward Copeland
“One More Saturday Night” — My Morning Jacket with Maggie Rose
“Ripple” — Norah Jones
“Bertha” — Zac Brown and Marcus King
“Ramble On Rose” — Wynonna Judd
“Friend of the Devil” — Noah Kahan with Bela Fleck
“Scarlet Begonias” — Vampire Weekend
“Truckin’” — Dwight Yoakam
“They Love Each Other” – Maren Morris
“It Must Have Been the Roses” — Lukas Nelson and Sierra Ferrell
“Wharf Rat” — Billy Strings
“Loose Lucy” — Sammy Hagar
“Standing on the Moon” — Bruce Hornsby
“Box of Rain” — The War on Drugs
“Terrapin Station” — John Mayer
“Althea”/“Sugar Magnolia”/“Touch of Grey” — Dead & Company
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
