Video Proof That a Grateful Dead Flag Was Once Planted at the Top of the Pyramids

"There is definitely some kind of mojo about the pyramids."

This week marks the 44th anniversary of the time the Grateful Dead played the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Personally, I think that’s something that’s not talked about enough.

I mean, the Grateful Dead played the Pyramids…. The Grateful Dead played the Pyramids! The Grateful Dead played the Pyramids!!

The year was 1978. The band got the idea when their manager Richard Loren took a vacation to Egypt. I can imagine it was one of those things that strikes you like lightning as you’re staring at a great wonder of the world. Man, wouldn’t it be sick if we could get Jerry and the guys over here? I bet “Deal” would sound pretty good next to the Great Pyramid of Giza. I also imagine that if you were the manager of the Grateful Dead in the ‘70s, you had a regular version of this thought anytime you looked at something cool. Man, wouldn’t it be sick to put the Wall of Sound up in front of the Statue of Liberty? Et cetera.

But this one got turned into reality. Once it got put into motion, bassist Phil Lesh took it upon himself to make the three-night run happen. He’d later talk about it, quoted here in the Grateful Dead Reader.

"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."

Some kind of mojo, indeed.

Anyway, as any Dead fan will tell you, the show itself kind of sucked. There were a few obstacles: The band was working with borrowed equipment rather than bringing their own, drummer Bill Kreutzmann was drumming with one arm because he’d recently broken his arm because he fell off of a horse (lol), and I would imagine there was just a little bit of general stress and chaos around trying to set up a PA system next to ancient structures that were maybe or maybe not built by aliens.

The band officially released it back in 2008 as Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978, but there are about 10 million other Dead records that are worth listening to. (The art is extremely sick, though).

Listening to this show isn’t the point. I’d argue that it’s just one of those things that’s fun to think about — the fact that these buncha lunatics acted on such a dorm room stoner thought like “we should play the Pyramids, man…” is as funny as it is cool. On a deeper level (or something), this recording has a deep psychological and spiritual element. The concept of playing in the literal Cradle of Civilization is the ultimate way to embrace the timelessness of Grateful Dead music. These songs are hymns, after all. Who’s to say they haven’t always existed?

One of my favorite parts about this whole thing is what Phil eventually wrote about in his memoir, Searching for the Sound.

"An increasing number of shadowy figures gathering just at the edge of the illuminated area surrounding the stage and audience – not locals, as they all seem to be wearing the same garment, a dark, hooded robe. These, it turns out, are the Bedouin, the nomadic horsemen of the desert: drawn in by the music and lights... each night they have remained to dance and sway rhythmically for the duration of the show."

Sick.

(Unrelated, you can listen to the man himself read this book via Audible, which I extremely recommend doing. He’s got a great, great radio voice.)

But here’s the good part. (Yeah, I’m “burying the lede” here.) With the release of Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978, the band also released a DVD of footage called The Vacation Tapes, a hilarious bunch of silent home videos filmed by Loren and various other people throughout their trip to Egypt. You’ve got Jerry riding a camel. You’ve got Mickey and Bill talking about how their drumming is going to psychedelically lift the pyramids in the air. And you’ve just got, in general, a bunch of hippies running around Cairo in 1978, quite the sight to behold.

Here’s a taste for you. Recently, I came across a clip of a local Deadhead climbing to the top of one of the pyramids, hanging a Stealie flag. Enjoy.