Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

My second trip out of the country brought me to these shows. Long ass flight and connections out of Frankfurt. Had a lot of extra inspections at customs as my only other overseas trip was to Isreal almost ten years before. None of the shows really lived up to expectations. The performances were um, considering the setting, rather dull. I did ride a camel the next day though.

Hamza El Din sang and played like an ancient Egyptian priest; the eclipse is coming! Hymns from the Book of the Coming Forth by Day - the doors are opening.The solo tar of Hamza is joined by the Abbysinnan Youth Orchestra and lo and behold, one by one, strange beatnick wandering sadhus start to filter onto the stage and melt into the beat with a melody so sublime that it must have been wept from heaven. Ollin Arrageed! The people of Giza and the surrounds were convinced that in some subtle unspoken way that these three concerts were the peace talks 'in practice' as i were. "Salam; Shalom - who cares we just want peace" said Hasan Al-Gabray as we listened to the radio broadcast in his house. Children ran across the desert by the Pyramids shouting "Grateful Dead, Tom Jones!" Tom Jones was, apparently, the only other 'western act' that they knew the name of. Surreal!