Woody Harrelson — While High on Mushrooms — Almost Ruined a Grateful Dead Concert by Sitting on a Keyboard
During a Monday, Feb. 24 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Last Breath actor revealed how he found himself "jamming" with the Grateful Dead, of which he considers himself an "honorary member."
Harrelson's favorite memory of the band was when he went to his first show in northern California with a friend who knew the Dead. "We imbibed some fungi and were like, hanging out,' he recalled, adding that he got some time to chat with the band between sets.
"We go back to talk to everybody back there and, before you know it, I'm meeting the Dead. We chat for a minute and then they're like, 'We gotta get out there.' " After a brief conversation with Jerry Garcia about the "universe expanding," the Dead returned to the stage.
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Harrelson was then chatting with Bruce Hornsby, who sat on the back of his chair, and Harrelson followed suit, taking a seat. "And then suddenly this wild, discordant cacophony of crazy notes — just WHAM!"
"Well, I think to myself, 'Kinda genius!' " the actor noted, thinking it was a musical moment.
"But then I notice things — and, granted, things are kicking in — and I look and I see Jerry [Garcia]'s 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, 'Whoa!' And in life, I was like 'Whoa!' "
Unbeknownst to a tripping Harrelson, he had sat on a keyboard. Roadies were yelling and cursing at him to get off the instrument.
'Bruce goes, 'Woody, you're sitting on a live MIDI!' Which is a keyboard,' " Harrelson continued. Colbert joked that Harrelson was doing an "ass solo" for the band's gig.
"That was my first experience with them," the actor joked. "I jammed with the Dead."
Related: Ted Danson Pulled for 'Crazy as Hell' Woody Harrelson to Get Cheers Role
Weeks prior, the True Detective star had attended the MusiCares Person of the Year concert that paid tribute to the Dead in Los Angeles in late January, perThe Hollywood Reporter.
He called founding band member Bob Weir "one of the most interesting, electric, spiritually deep people on the planet, and not a bad musician.'
Harrelson's new movie, Last Breath, premieres in theaters on Friday, Feb. 28.
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