On October 21st, back in 1978, the Grateful Dead were in the midst of wrapping up a fiery five-night run at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. This string of shows was particularly special for the band, as they marked the first shows played by the Dead following their now-legendary performances near the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt a month prior.

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In an effort to bring their experiences in Northern Africa home with them to share with their fans, the Dead’s ’78 Winterland run saw sit-ins by Egyptian percussionist, singer, and oud player Hamza El Din. On October 21st, El Din opened the show solo, offering his divine percussion before the Grateful Dead slowly emerged to join him for an ecstatic rendition of “Ollin Arageed”, a number based off a Nubian wedding tune, before embarking on a soaring half-acoustic, half-electric jam.

After landing in “Promised Land”, the band relaxes back into its traditional set-up, though the renditions of more standard Grateful Dead tunes still shine, with powerful builds and crisp, decisive playing. During the second set, the Grateful Dead offers yet another surprise—coming out of “Space”, the band jumps into “Got My Mojo Working”, a 1956 blues tune written by Preston “Red” Foster and made popular by Muddy Waters, and invites War’s harmonica extraordinaire Lee Oskar to join them on the tune.

You can listen to the Grateful Dead’s performance at Winterland Ballroom exactly 29 years ago today below, courtesy of Michael Grossman.

 

[Photo: Ed Perlstein/Redferns]