In high school I had heard stories of Egypt '78 and they were not very favorable. The stories were that the Dead went there with grandiose plans, only to disappoint themselves and that their big mistake was not bringing Keith's piano tuner. This ruined the whole experience for the band. So my first encounter with these shows was my first semester at St Lawrence, when I fellow DeadHead lent me his copy of the shows. I listened while copying them from Geoff's CD and I didn't feel as bad about them as the band did. They didn't jump to the top of my list either. There all sorts of sound issues with my copy but I could pick out the out-of-tune piano because Keith mostly played his electric piano (check out the solo on"They Loved Each Other.") Then there was the "Ollin Arrangeed," which was a very cool hipnatic jam lead but the special guest Hamza el-Din. They were a very auspicious musical signature which would become more and more bluesy as the band members took over the direction of the song.
So many moons had past when the Grateful Dead finally came around to releasing the best of the Egypt trip along with the video. It was essentially the album that they soured on in 1978. The best of featured a black & white video of the band playing and is well worth the cost. A keen viewer will spot some filial faces in the crowd like Bill Walton and Ken Kesey. The trip also created some iconic images of Jerry like the one below and one were Jerry is riding a camel. You can download the first Egypt '78 show
HERE and
HERE, which happened 35 years ago today.
I: Ollin Arrangeed*, NFA, Uncle, TLEO, Minglewood, Peggy-O, BIODTL, Deal
II: Sugaree, Samson, Scarlet, Fire, Truckin', Other One, Drums, Space, Black Peter, Around
*with Hamza el-Din
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