In September of 1978, the Grateful Dead traveled to Egypt and played three shows at the Great Pyramid of Giza, with the Great Sphinx looking over their shoulders. It wasn’t the first time a rock band played in an ancient setting. Pink Floyd performed songs in the middle of the Amphitheatre of Pompeii in October 1971. But Floyd performed to an “empty” house, playing to no live fans, only ghosts. (Watch footage here.) The Dead’s shows, on the other hand, were real gigs, attended by Deadheads who made the journey over, and they could thank Phil Lesh for putting it all in motion. Lesh later said, “it sort of became my project because I was one of the first people in the band who was on the trip of playing at places of power. You know, power that’s been preserved from the ancient world. The pyramids are like the obvious number one choice because no matter what anyone thinks they might be, there is definitely some kind of mojo about the pyramids.”
Logistically speaking, the concerts weren’t the easiest to stage. Rolling Stone reported that an “equipment truck got stuck in sand and had to be towed by camels.” Because the electricity in Egypt was an “a winkin’, blinkin’ affair,” Bob Weir later recalled, the jetlagged band had difficulties recording the first of the three shows. But, as with most adventures, the inconveniences were offset by the wondrous nature of the experience.
Weir captured it well when he said: “I got to a point where the head of the Sphinx was lined up with the top of the Great Pyramid, all lit up. All of a sudden, I went to this timeless place. The sounds from the stage — they could have been from any time. It was as if I went into eternity.” The Sphinx and Great Pyramid date back to roughly 2560 BC.
The Dead were joined on this trip by the counterculture author Ken Kesey (not to mention Bill Graham and Bill Walton) who apparently captured footage on Super‑8 reels. (Watch it above.) Kesey himself later tried to explain the symbolism of the visit, saying: “The people who were there recognized this as a respectful and holy event that went back to something we can all just barely glimpse, them and us both. Our relationship to ancient humans. To this place on the planet. To the planet’s place in the universe. All that cosmic stuff is what the Dead are based on. The Egyptians could understand that.”
At the very top of the post, you can see the Dead performing “Ollin Arageed,” with Egyptian oudist Hamza el-Din and other local musicians, before seguing into “Fire on the Mountain.” The clip gives you a good feel for the awe-inspiring scene. Just above, we have a longer playlist of performances that took place on September 16, 1978 — the same night there was a lunar eclipse. The complete 9/16/78 show can be streamed on Archive.org, as can the shows from 9/14 and 9/15. A 2CD/1 DVD package (Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978) captures the Dead’s visit and can be purchased online.
To get more on the Pyramid concerts, read Chapter 43 of Dennis McNally’s book, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. And here you can see Dead & Co’s homage to the Egypt adventure at the Sphere in Vegas. Enjoy.
Related Content:
A Walking Tour Around the Pyramids of Giza: 2 Hours in Hi Def
It astounds me that such a lame, uninteresting band such as the Grateful Dung would play such an iconic setting. Why? Who did they inspire? They played the most terrible and embarrassing songs in their long-winded and blow-winded careers. They all played their ticky-tacky picking shit for hours on end. Fucking boring shite!
Yames, we pity your taste.
OC
Wow, sorry you are unable to access the conscious vibe and delightful jam melodies… but there’s time… you may have an awakening and all of a sudden realize that there is so much more to hear and enjoy and then you can get on the bus and join the party… in the meanwhile shut yer pie hole if ye ain’t got nuttin good to say ya slagger….
Poor guy yames, clearly the lowest of the Lames; you’re uninteresting trolling and absence of intellect and culture astounds all of us with more than two functioning brain cells and unclogged ears. The Grateful Dead, and this article in particular, seems to have inspired you to vomit your fucking boring troll shite into this comment section. It is okay to be envious of the Dead’s vast musical talents and their ability to inspire an entire community of fans to religiously follow their musical deities around the globe, to see, hear and feel the spiritual experience of attending a Grateful Dead concert. This community is still alive and constantly growing, over 60 years after it began. Don’t be jealous of this fact. There are still plenty of seats left for you and others to sit back and enjoy the trip, along with the rest of us. We will welcome anyone, even douchebags like yourself.
Stay lame yames, you fucking muppet. Namaste.
Wang dang doodle all night long
“MEOW IS WOOF IN CAT”.
George Carlin
Sending love and peaceful easy feelings to my Dead brothers & sisters
Keep the faith
When the storms fly
And the wind blows
Go on at a steady pace.
Thanks for the insight OC. Hater’s gotta hate
Sorry,OC my message was in response to yames nasty message
I agree that they are not very interesting nor very competent musicians but they made and continue to make a lot of people happy and happiness is a good thing. My garden may not be your garden may not be Dead heads’ garden but let a thousand flowers bloom.
Bob Dylan must be crazy. And your definitely not a “lazy” music listener.
James (Lames — more appropriate). You sound so ignorant and uninformed that I won’t bother trying to correct or try to explain what the Dead’s music and legacy mean in the hearts and minds to those of us who have followed the band for 50+ years. Your sad and feeble attempt to characterize one of the most significant bands in the history of rock and roll is pitiful at best and ridiculous from the word go. Whatever your issue is, it’s apparent that you’ll never “get it”. That’s perfectly fine and yet ironic that you’d take the time to comment on a historic and unique video of a concert experience that holds no appeal to you. Lots of luck to you, I’m sure 50 years from now people will still be interested enough to watch something that you participated in…actually never-ending, your sad opinion will be flushed like the stinky turd you are! FOREVER GRATEFUL, FOREVER DEAD!
And yet people will be listening to them and taking the time to understand and appreciate their unique genius long after you’re gone. You can even take college courses on their music, which drew from nearly every genre and varied every single night–not just in the songs played but also how they are played. I used to not appreciate their sound but acknowledged I probably just didn’t understand it. Forever glad that I went a little further down that road. The internet is filled to vomiting with people armed only with an idiotic, singular logic: If I don’t like it, it is crap. Ah, ok. Thank you for your superior and flawless musical verdict.
“Competent,” this one says, ay yi yi. Spontaneously improvised jams that, on the best nights, sound as tight as a studio album (google May 8, 1977 or, heck, the day before, the day after…). New threads are woven in flawlessly. Songs merge with other songs. Bob Weir weaves counterpoint rhythms around the solos. Everone is meshing beautifully just by their level of attentiveness.
Jerry is on lists of greatest guitarists ever for good reason. I can’t even imagine how it would have sounded if he had played the same licks to the same unvarying setlist every night like most bands. Garcia was making it up on the spot and still delivering virtuoso performances.