Review: MusiCares’ Grateful Dead Gala

What has rainbow grilled cheese platters, giant dancing bear cutouts, and Woody Harrelson wearing a tie dye tie? The MusiCares’ annual Persons of the Year Charity Gala, where the Grateful Dead are the 2025 honorees (with some “Friend of the Devil” food cake to celebrate.) 

“It’s an incredible honor and I’m humbled to stand here tonight,” drummer Mickey Hart told the audience, standing on the Los Angeles Convention Center stage on Friday night. “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’re here tonight.” 

MusiCares is one of the few Grammy week events that remained scheduled in wake of the Eaton and Palisades fires in Southern California, taking place the day after the massive, star-studded Fireaid benefit at the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome. The organization raised over $5.2 million in fire relief. “This is the first time that we’re celebrating our Person of the Year gala while in the middle of an ongoing disaster,” said MusiCares’ chair Steve Boom. 

As many noted across the evening, the Dead are a fitting choice for this year — and not only because it’s the band’s 60th anniversary. “Honoring them carries extra special meaning,” said President and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “L.A. is home to an incredible music community, and the fires obviously hit us very hard …There’s no better honoree than the Grateful Dead. Their music has uplifted millions, and their philanthropy is legendary.” 

The Grateful Dead are just the third band to be honored at MusiCares, after Fleetwood Mac in 2018 and Aerosmith in 2020. It’s their second honoring event in two months, following the Kennedy Center in December 2024. Only Bobby Weir and Hart were present; they later showed a video in which drummer Bill Kreutzmann apologized for not being able to attend. His son, Justin, arrived in his place, alongside the late Phil Lesh’s son Grahame (who also performed throughout the ceremony) and Garcia’s daughter Trixie.

“The road is a rough existence, as plainly evidenced by the simple fact that there aren’t all that many of my old bandmates here tonight to receive this recognition,” Weir told the crowd. “And longevity was never a major concern of ours; lighting folks up and spreading joy through the music was all we really had in mind.”

This pretty much describes the vibe of the entire event. The bliss was so palpable, so needed, that most of the audience couldn’t stop smiling, eventually abandoning their fancy assigned tables and chairs to dance and forget about all the madness for a while. “They are eternal reminders that a sense of community and humanity can still be achieved through music,” said host and noted Deadhead Andy Cohen. “And that’s why we’re all here tonight, because we all agree that their music is the nucleus that has kept a sometimes flaky world pure.”

Cohen shared a charming anecdote of his first Dead concert, when he was 18 years old and asked his parents if he could drive his 1972 yellow Buick Skylark convertible from St. Louis to Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. “‘Where would you sleep?’ they asked. ‘In the car in the parking lot,’ I said. ‘What would you eat?’ They wondered. ‘They sell grilled cheese sandwiches in the lot,’ I said. ‘Where will you source your mushrooms?’ They didn’t ask that. But to my great astonishment they said yes …I felt like I belonged, and I felt free. I was on the bus, and I never got off.”

“The true measure of an artist is the ability to have multi-generational appeal, no matter the age or the generation,” he added. “With a through line of acceptance and love, the Dead continue to convert every day people from all walks of life to proud Deadheads. It feels like if the music’s playing, you are always home. So tonight ladies and gentlemen, we are all home.” 

Weir kicked the festivities off with an instrumental performance of “The Other One,” backed by a shimmering symphony. The War & Treaty then took the stage for a searing rendition of “Samson and Delilah,” featuring Mick Fleetwood and Stewart Copeland. The Fleetwood Mac and Police drummers both got some solo time in — their very own psychedelic “Drums/Space.” 

My Morning Jacket and Maggie Rose tore through “One More Saturday Night,” with Rose in a “Scarlet Begonias”-esque red gown, harmonizing with Jim James. Norah Jones then appeared at the center rotating stage on piano, guiding the crowd through a lovely “Ripple,” followed by Zac Brown and Marcus King’s take on “Bertha.”

Lainey Wilson made a surprise cameo, sitting at a table wearing a white cowboy hat while praising Wynonna Judd (“my country music mama”) who was moments away from delivering a powerhouse performance of “Ramble on Rose.” “I can’t believe this,” Wilson told Cohen. “I get to go home and tell my parents that I just met Bob Weir!”

Judd gave an especially emotional introduction to her performance. “I love you, Robert Weir,” she told the guitarist. “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.” 

Noah Kahan and Béla Fleck dove into a cozy “Friend of the Devil” on the center stage, followed by Vampire Weekend’s groove-laden “Scarlet Begonias.” Dwight Yoakam came out for a charged “Truckin,’” Maren Morris performed a soulful “They Love Each Other” in a witchy black dress, and Billy Strings played “Wharf Rat,” an early Dead cover he’s been perfecting in his sets since 2021. 

The excellent backing band contained no lightweights: Lesh’s son Grahame on guitar (who, with the War on Drugs, played a fitting, emotional rendition of his dad’s “Box of Rain”), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ keyboardist Benmont Tench, legendary pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, Dead & Company’s keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda, and drummers Kendrick Scott and Terence Higgins.

Sierra Ferrell, dressed in a stunning black dress with a headdress of red roses, joined Lukas Nelson for a devastatingly great take on “It Must Have Been the Roses.” Sammy Hagar, ever the bearer of good vibes, played a rowdy “Loose Lucy,” while singer-songwriter and former Dead member Bruce Hornsby slowed down the tempo for the late Eighties and early Nineties staple “Standing on the Moon.” 

To close out the evening, John Mayer took the center stage for an awesome “Terrapin Station” that lasted well over ten minutes. Following the Dead’s acceptance speeches — in which Harrleson shared fond, hilarious memories that include smoking “a fatty” with the band — Mayer joined the rest of Dead & Company for “Althea,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Touch of Grey.” 

Though the latter is predictable, the Dead’s monstrous latter-day hit has become an anthem over the years — particularly in the pandemic era, when lines like “We will get by” were chanted on the internet. And now, on the exact day the fires are finally contained, hearing it felt triumphant. 

“What we have here in Southern California these days is a rebuild that’s gonna take some time and effort — and an immense amount of teamwork,” Weir told the audience. “My guess is it’s gonna take a few years, but SoCal will be back, stronger and shinier.”