People tripping on psilocybin mushrooms seems almost like a defining factor of a Grateful Dead concert, but when Woody Harrelson joined their ranks, it almost ruined the show. Ironically, if the event had been more planned, Harrelson probably could have had a great time jamming with the band. Although we often associate him with his non-musical acting roles, Harrelson has a long history in music performance.
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However, this wasn’t so much a performance as…well, as The Late Show host Stephen Colbert put it, an improvised, unsolicited “a** solo.”
Meeting The Band While High On Mushrooms
When Woody Harrelson presented the Grateful Dead with the MusiCares Persons of the Year Award in early February 2025, he said, “If the acting thing hadn’t worked out, I truly believed I would have been an official member of the Grateful Dead. I’d settle for an honorary member, amscot, spirit animal, all of the above, if you’ll have me.” During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert later that month, the actor revealed just how close he got to being a musician in the Grateful Dead.
Harrelson first got to meet the Grateful Dead through his carpenter, who knew the band and invited the actor to watch a concert in northern California. As one does at a Grateful Dead show, the two men ate psychedelic mushrooms before heading backstage to hang out with the band (of course, fewer people can say they do the last part at a Dead show). Harrelson recounted talking to various band members before they rushed on stage to start their set. He briefly conversed with frontman Jerry Garcia about the ever-expanding nature of the universe.
Then, Harrelson began talking to keyboardist Bruce Hornsby about the First Gulf War. As the discussion got more heated, Harrelson and Hornsby settled back into their chairs. Unfortunately, Harrelson’s “chair” was actually a live MIDI keyboard.
Woody Harrelson Wreaks Havoc On Grateful Dead Concert
After Woody Harrelson settled back onto what he believed to be a stool on stage during the Grateful Dead concert, “Suddenly, this wild, discordant cacophony of crazy notes, just, WHAM! I think to myself, ‘Kinda genius,’” he says with a smile. “But then I notice things. And granted, things are kicking in. I look, and I see Jerry [Garcia] looking back at me and Phil [Lesh] and Bobby [Weir], and they’re looking back directly at me. Like, if it was your dream, you’d be like, ‘Woah!’ And in life, I was like, ‘Whoa!’”
“Bruce [Hornsby] goes, ‘Woody, you’re sitting on a live MIDI!’” Harrelson continued. “That was my first experience with them. I jammed with the Dead.” Unfortunate MIDI gaffs aside, the experience had to have been incredible for Harrelson, who always wanted to pursue his original love of music but never quite found the time amidst his prolific acting career. “Music was always something I wanted to do,” Harrelson said in a 1991 Los Angeles Times interview. “It’s always been cooking right below the surface. But then, once I landed the Cheers role and got famous for that, I felt that people wouldn’t take my music thing seriously, which is understandable. Still, I was determined to get into music somehow.”
Who knew “somehow” could look like a MIDI repurposed for a stool?
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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