Grateful Dead was honored Friday as the MusiCares Person of the Year at a gala in Los Angeles, highlighted by a performance by Dead & Company, featuring surviving Dead members Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart.
Rolling Stone reports the band’s other surviving member, Bill Kreutzmann, didn’t attend, but his son Justin was there to accept his honor, along with the late Phil Lesh’s son Grahame and the late Jerry Garcia’s daughter Trixie.
“It’s an incredible honor and I’m humbled to stand here tonight,” Hart shared, according to the mag. “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.”
Referencing the absence of the band’s late members, Weir noted, “longevity was never a major concern of ours; lighting folks up and spreading joy through the music was all we really had in mind.”
A star-studded lineup of musicians paid tribute to the Dead in song, starting with Weir, backed by a symphony, performing an instrumental version of “The Other One.”
Among the night’s other performances: Sammy Hagar performed “Loose Lucy”; Grahame Lesh joined The War on Drugs for the Lesh-penned track “Box of Rain”; Wynonna Judd performed “Ramble on Rose”; The War and Treaty performed “Samson and Delilah” backed by Stewart Copeland and Mick Fleetwood; Noah Kahan performed “Friend of the Devil”; Dead collaborator Bruce Hornsby performed “Standing on the Moon”; and Zac Brown and Marcus King performed “Bertha.”
John Mayer, a member of Dead & Company, had the final guest performance of the night, performing an over 10 minute version of “Terrapin Station.” He later returned to close the show with Dead & Company, who performed “Althea,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Touch of Grey.”
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