I fly to Venice to see off the trucks to Alexandria
1978 Grateful Dead in Egypt
So the whole story changes for me. I have to make sure 5 x 40 foot truck trailers get to Cairo in Egypt to put on a show in the open air in front of the Pyramids. We have Sound equipment, Lighting equipment, Scaffolding for follow spot towers, Generators to run the power, AND the Manor Mobile to record the shows.
Added to this story is a 4 part interview I recently had with John Rivett, the lead driver for the convoy of equipment from England. John is the man on the left hand side of the picture above at the top of the Great Pryamid.
As soon as I got back from Los Angeles I made appointments for meetings. On 9th August in the morning, Trinifold Travel and in the afternoon down to Shepperton for production meetings at ML Executives. The following day with Dick Parkinson to sort out the Lighting. After the weekend I drove up to Oxford, it was actually my Grandma's birthday so I popped in for a cuppa to see her. Then down the road to Virgin's Manor Studios. I met up with Barbara Jeffries, the studio manager to discuss hiring the Manor Mobile for Egypt. Then back up to London and the next day into Harvey Goldsmith's office. Later that week I went back down to Shepperton Studios to see the Sound and Lights being set up and loaded into the trucks. The sound guys had even painted the cabinets, they looked nice and new!!!!
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As soon as the Grateful Dead got to Cairo, Richard and Alan took me to one side and told me they had decided to cancel the European tour. They said the finances didn't really add up so they were going to come over and do a couple of shows in London for Harvey but that was it. It took a while to sink in as I had spent the last three months setting the whole thing up. Wow, all that work .... but Heh.....
A picture here of the trucks on their way to Venice to get on a freighter to Alexandria with all the gear needed for the Pyramids shows
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June, my girlfriend at the time, and I arrived at the Mena House Hotel late evening of the 30th August. We were given a chalet room in the gardens and to wake up, draw back the curtains and see the Great Pyramid straight in front of you was a sight indeed. This is the original photo I took that very morning. I also kept the memento sticker in the writing desk of my room with the logo of the hotel as it was back then in 1978.
Heh, and how about the pass. The Dead brought over all the passes for band and crew with them. I wish they had also brought over their piano tuner, like they had agreed to do, but shit happens as they say!!
So the set up began
Picture of the truck carrying the generator and the scaffolding towers, on it's way to Venice. I was to meet the convoy and Mick Double from ML Executives, in Venice and make sure there were no problems getting on to the freighter to cross the Med to Alexandria.
I had the best trip, because as soon as they set sail I hightailed it to Rome for 24 hours before flying directly to Cairo.
I have no idea what the numbers are on my pass. This is the back of my pass. The back of the local guys that were working along side us was different it looked like this below
I contacted Mick Healey, an original lighting guy on this gig. Mick is Account Director at PRG London now, but kindly sent me a story he has never forgotton about the setting up of the shows. Over to you Mick.........
Hi Richard
Ah yes, The Grateful Dead at the Pyramids. The Lighting crew was Richard Hartmann, Martin Coppen & myself. I do not think that there was any other UK Lampy on our team. Happy Hubbard was there from ML Productions looking after the Super Troupers.
Here’s my favourite memory:
At one point Martin & I were sent on a mission to back-light the great Pyramid with half a dozen 2Kw fresnels. I went driving off into the desert with Martin & 4 locals in a battered old truck. Needless to say the results were not spectacular. What was spectacular was how we powered them up. There was a little old local Arab guy who was sort of care taker/stage manager of the site. He spoke every European language I seem to recall. Well, he came with us in the truck, along with four of the locals. There is an old dirt road that circles around all four sides of each Pyramid. On the far/back side of the Pyramid there is absolutely nothing but desert. We stopped the truck, each local with a Fresnel or two & stand on the shoulder disappeared into the blackness with the Old Guy barking orders. I remember Martin & I thinking “shit, that’s the last we’ll see of them”. Anyway, not so, they set up the lights in a line about 15 meters apart. Here is the amazing bit. The old guy positioned himself facing the pyramid to get his bearings. Once in a position he was happy with, he spun 180 degrees & strode off into the desert night with some purpose. After about 40 paces or so, he dropped to his knees & started digging in the sand with his hands. About a foot down was a small trapdoor he opened it up & there were 4 live 15 Amp sockets.. Speechless is not the word to describe it.! Apparently sometime after the WW2, he had taken it upon himself to power the place up! And why not!
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We did three show nights there if I remember correctly. Other stuff that happened was; A lighting genie tower crashing to the stage just before the first show; Camels wandering through the audience; The sound guys running a mic down into the burial chamber of The Great Pyramid to record the “vibes” for the live album; Candice the LD sending around a vial of liquid acid to us during one of the shows. We were running the follow spots. We gratefully declined (probably why I can still remember it!) Apparently the acid belonged to the Dead’s sound man who was in charge of recording the live album……Happy Days!;
I seem to remember that the “Manor Mobile” got stuck in the sand on the load out. Wonder if it’s still there? J
I still have some photographs somewhere but I can’t promise that I could lay my hands on them.
Good Luck with the “Tales of the Tarmac” book. I look forward to reading it one day!
Best Regards
Mick
Mick Healey
One of the best photos I have ever taken if not the best. I climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid with three of the drivers, and here in this photo is Mr John Rivett on the left with Mr Kerry Prosser to his right. The other two photos are the views of two other directions from the top.
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On the 21st of September I flew home. I had gone to Alexandria to see the trucks off on a freighter back to Venice and had gone back to Cairo by train. At the beginning of the trip I had planned on having a week to travel down the Nile before going back to the UK. But after a month there, the heat, the hassles, the food, I just wanted to get home.
Well, if you look at the date sheet at the top of the page you can see that a week later the Grateful Dead were in London and played three nights at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.
But the really interesting thing to note is the original plan was to tour Europe, and you can see on the right hand side of the date sheet I have posted what was supposed to happen but what got cancelled...
I have to thank Barbara Jefferies, who came out to Cairo for the shows to make sure her Mobile Recording Studio performed. Barbara very wisely kept the tapes to the show and brought them back to the UK. You see the production costs had only been 50% paid up, so those tapes became a very valuable insurance and were handed over and shipped to the US a month later when the final bill was paid.
At the end of the tour there is always a funny story of some sort in my experience, and this gig does not let me down. The piano tuner that we got out to the show did his job and then disappeared until it was time for him to go home. When he did finally get home.... well listen to the last audio clip, it is quite funny..
