The concert raised more than $5 million for L.A. fire victims. Performers included Mick Fleetwood, Dwight Yoakam, Maren Morris, Bruce Hornsby, John Mayer and Sammy Hagar.
For a band long known for its musical elasticity, the timing of Friday's MusiCares Persons of the Year concert honoring the Grateful Dead could not have been more on the money, literally and figuratively, at the nearly three-hour concert.
The fundraising event at the Los Angeles Convention Center's South Hall featured memorable performances of genre-blurring Dead songs by everyone from Norah Jones, Zac Brown and Vampire Weekend to Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Mick Fleetwood, Stewart Copeland and Sammy Hagar. It raised $5.2 million for relief and assistance to fire-struck members of the Los Angeles music community who are now homeless, jobless and struggling to get by.
In a coincidence that seemed eerily on point for a band whose music has long been hailed for its cosmic qualities, the Dead-themed concert was just past the two-hour mark when news broke that the fires that had ravaged L.A. County for the past three weeks had finally been contained.
More specifically, news reports about the containment of the fires came as John Mayer was nearing the conclusion of his 12-minute rendition of "Terrapin Station." That 1977 classic -- which clocked in at 16 minutes in its original recorded version -- contains such contemplative couplets as "hold away despair" and "I can't figure out, Terrapin, if it's the end or the beginning."
Such sentiments, like the resiliency of the Dead's music, could not have been more timely than at the 2025 edition of MusiCares, a branch of the Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammy Awards are also presented. In the four decades since its inception, MusiCares has raised more than $100 million to provide assistance to musicians and other music-industry workers facing financial, medical and personal hardships, including addiction recovery and disaster relief.
In the weeks leading up to the concert, MusiCares had raised $4.5 million in fire aid funds, Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason Jr. told the audience. Donations made during the concert -- which drew a capacity crowd of 2,520 to the non-televised event -- brought that tally to nearly $10 million.
Prior to the first song of the night, Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir was one of five attendees to pledge $100,000 to MusiCares. He may be the first honoree in the event's history to make a donation at the same edition of MusiCares where he was being honored.
Weir happily sang the praises of the nonprofit organization when he and drummer Mickey Hart accepted their Persons of the Year award. (Drummer Bill Kreutzmann gave his speech via video. Bassist Phil Lesh, who died Oct. 25 at the age of 84, was represented by his musician son, Grahame, who also performed.)
"MusiCares (is) a beacon of hope in the music industry that provides financial assistance, mental health resources, recovery programs and other support to artists and music technicians facing challenges," Weir said.
"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," Weir continued. "My guess is it's gonna take a few years, but Southern California will be back, stronger and shinier."
Reflecting on his band's enduring impact after 60 years, Weir drew laughs when he said: "Longevity was never a major concern of ours." He then added: "Lighting folks up and spreading joy through the music was all we really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done."
That joy was palpable at Friday's concert, which featured a house band led by Don Was. It was hosted by Andy Cohen and drew such high-profile Dead fans as Nancy Pelosi and actor Woody Harrelson, the latter of whom presented Weir and Hart with their awards.
At previous editions of MusiCares -- which has honored everyone from Jon Bon Jovi and Dolly Parton to Aerosmith and Lionel Richie -- the audience of begowned women and tuxedoed men typically remained seated until the concerts' grand finale. On Friday, people were up and dancing almost from the moment the music kicked off with Stewart Copeland of The Police and Mick Fleetwood providing double-drum propulsion for The War & Treaty's soaring, gospel-fueled version of "Samson and Delilah."
All but one of the 21 other bands and solo artists Friday admirably demonstrated the durability and flexibility of the Grateful Dead's songs. The lone exception was The War On Drugs, who gave an innocuous reading of "Box of Rain."
My Morning Jacket and Maggie Rose delivered a suitably rollicking version of "One More Saturday Night." Bruce Hornsby and Rick Mitarotonda's whisper-soft version of "Standing on the Moon" evoked chills, especially when Hornsby sang the lines "I see the Gulf of Mexico as tiny as a tear / The coast of California must be somewhere over here."
Norah Jones lent a sublime honky-tonk flavor to "Ripple," while Zac Brown and Marcus King brought an Allman Brothers-styled Southern-rock flavor to "Bertha." Wynonna Judd earned a standing ovation from Weir and Hart for her spirted version of "Ramble On Rose." So did Lukas Nelson and Sierra Ferrell, for their achingly beautiful performance of "It Must Have Been The Roses." Sammy Hagar seemed to channel the late Otis Redding on "Loose Lucy." Vampire Weekend brought a New Orleans second-line flavor to "Scarlet Begonias."
The concert concluded with three characteristically loosey-goosey songs by the Weir and Hart-led band Dead & Company. They performed, in order, "Althea," "Sugar Magnolia" and "Touch of Grey," whose refrain -- "We will survive / We will get by" -- was a fitting coda on a night that honored both the Grateful Dead and the fire-scarred, down-but-not-out city of Los Angeles.