Carl Cox at the Pyramids, Giza, Egypt – May 2023
We all have people in our lives who only contact us to alter our plans.
“Hey Carl, long time no speak, what’s up?”
“OH YES! OH YES!”, bellowed the voice down the phone, “I just got a gig at the Pyramids!”
The penny dropped, this was the usual moral support call, like that time he called about a gig in Privilege a few years back because he was afraid the place wouldn’t fill up. He was clearly in need of some reassurance.
My original plans involved a crusty venture to Brixton to see the Orb, with the Ozric Tentacles in support, but I realised I’d have to reschedule my appointment with Dr. Patterson for another date.
I mean, this was the man I learned to mix with, after all, and for sure we’ve had plenty of good times over the years. How could I refuse?
Besides, Carl was on a roll lately, Electronic Generations had been one of the biggest surprises of 2022, nobody expected it to be as banging as it was. The footage I’d seen online of his new hybrid setup had also piqued my interest, but what really won me over was the location.
With all due respect to Brixton, Egypt’s been on my bucket list since childhood, so I contacted the one person I knew for sure would not be able to resist such a madcap adventure and, in the immortal words of Peter Kay, we “booked it, packed it, fucked off.”
Well kinda.
Wandering The Desert
The actual ticket process was a bit of a mess and the promotors themselves weren’t giving much away. We both headed to the airport still unsure as to whether the thing was going ahead at all.
And nobody else seemed to know either.
Landing in Cairo late at night was kinda like landing in Ibiza, except instead of posters for DJs we saw lots and lots of billboards for President El-Sisi.
None for Carl Cox though.
We got a place with a view of the Pyramids so at least we knew the general direction, trying to refresh various socials on patchy wifi but to no avail.
Carl himself was ghosting me again but if you know Carl well like I do, you don’t take it personally, that’s just his way – he’s a busy man, after all. Quite possible he was jetting off somewhere on the other end of the planet.
My raving companion and I spent a fascinating first day exploring the Pyramids of Giza. I had multiple historygasms, which is actually quite dangerous in the heat because you can get quite dehydrated.
Though not as dehydrated as that poor horse who had to lug us about the place, especially on the way back. (Didn’t help that I’d loaded up on black market artefacts which we eventually traded for drink tokens.)
The first sign that the event was indeed taking place was a stage we spotted round the back of the Pyramids. It didn’t look anywhere close to completed yet, but I thought this was hardly the place or the time to be questioning the efficiency of Egyptian engineering.
The logistics of the event were decently organised in the end. The event buses were quite efficient though I couldn’t say the same about the bar service. Pharoah nuff I suppose, at least we could get a drink and for far less than Cairo cocktail prices.
The crowd were chill, a few posers but no wankers, pretty much all well up for it and, other than the odd waft of hash, seemed to be behaving themselves. As the sun set, anticipation grew, we knew this was going to be quite the show…
Top Giza
A massive cheer went up once the big man himself took to the stage, amid an assortment of gadgets and an impatient crowd.
Carl kicked things off with some bass-heavy thumpers and straight away he’s in full flow. The man’s a juggernaut once he gets in motion and a joy to watch, dancing and pumping his fist in the air, bouncing from one machine to the next, jamming on the TR8, tweaking filters, adding fills, triggering snare rolls on the fly to build up tension while folding over layers of reverb and effects… this is the Carl Cox we wanted live and direct and dynamic.
The whole selling point, as seen on the poster, was Carl Cox in the foreground and the Pyramids in the background, though this wasn’t actually possible from our vantage point.
I was just about able to see the peaks of the Pyramids by going up on tippy-toes (I’m quite tall) and tilting my head back 60 degrees. But well, who cares when you got the 9th wonder of the world performing a live hybrid just a few feet in front of you.
Usually I’m much more of a dance at the back where there’s space kinda guy but glad I made an exception in this case. Nerd that I am, I spent half the time watching what he was doing (and trying to figure out his setup) and the other half spazzing out to specific tracks.
Incidentally, apologies to anyone I accidentally stomped, clattered or sweat splattered during my rambunctious enjoyment of the Capricorn 20hz remix.
20hz is one of my all-time fav tunes. Instant recognition, instant reaction, soon as I heard those rattling samba snares my body went into full berserker mode.
Course I wasn’t aware that R&S had an anniversary release scheduled which included a Carl Cox remix, so from my perspective this choice of track came out of nowhere.
Carl was jamming on it too, rather than playing it out in one go, he was messing around with the track stems, flipping back and forth, teasing segments, stretching bits out, condensing others and giving those samba snares a proper good rinsing.
At some point my overly enthusiastic demeanour prompted a girl to ask me if I had any pills.
I get why, though I imagine dribbling foreigners wandering the desert while rushing their Nefertitis off is not something our friend from the presidential billboards would approve of too much and had no intention of finding out.
I replied that the only thing I was on was the music (well, ok that and a fair few weak and watery vodka mixers) but she didn’t look convinced.
While we’re on the subject of randoms, other shout outs to:
- The opening DJ, a local lad who I had a chat with, really friendly guy whose name I now forget but, like so many of the people I’d met in Egypt, made me feel very welcome.
- The random loon who was giving free chiropractic treatments to everyone on the dancefloor – he grabbed me in a backwards bearhug and subsequently crippled me and left me lurching around Luxor for the next two days, he seemed to be having a good time though so full marks for enthusiasm.
Highlights:
- The location – seriously, I mean… wow!
- The look on faces when he dropped a higher state of consciousness remix and it clicked.
- That moment after Dropping the See The Sun Rising Franky Wah remix, soaking in the vibe and then as music soared, craning my neck up to see the tips of Pyramids in the background drenched in amber light.
- Going absolutely batshit crazy to 20hz, sorry love, no pills.
Later I had a little boogie in the sand outside, pyramids in the background, throwing proper 90s rave poses – because it had to be done. Here’s a gif of it…
Living In Da Nile
The next few days were spent exploring as much as we could of this amazing country and its fascinating history, specifically Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.
That, in and of itself, was well worth the journey. The trip of a lifetime really, something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I was a child.
I could go on and on about this topic and my love of classical history and show you all the photos I took of the various tombs but I’m afraid I’ll veer off topic too much.
So instead of giving you a lengthy presentation of all my holiday photos, let’s jump to another equally thrilling topic…
Walking like an Egyptian
Seriously, if you ever go to Cairo, watch how they cross the street. It’s inspirational.
It’s also an essential skill if you want to be able to cross a street in under 30 minutes.
The first thing I learned about Cairo is that pedestrian crossings are non-existent so you could spend the rest of your life waiting for a safe gap to cross. Running across at high speed turned out to be counter-productive, since it only seemed to cause oncoming traffic to speed up for some reason.
So, having observed the locals as they strolled out into speeding traffic (even motorways) sheer up against moving cars before crossing, I decided to emulate them.
It requires solid nerves as your mind is drenched in adrenaline and a voice inside you screams “I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!” over and over, but put your trust in Lord Amun-Ra and walk with poise and purpose, and if you manage to make it across the road alive, you will be reborn with newfound confidence.
I am motorway Moses, speeding traffic is my Red Sea!
Towards the end of the trip I achieved near-total mastery of this skill. I say near-total mastery because I hadn’t quite got the knack of doing it with taxis. Taxis seemed to have their own set of variables (and dangers) so I left those to the locals who’d been practicing longer.
The whole thing had a profound effect on me because it took weeks of effort, and lots of screaming motorists, to reacquaint myself with the complexities of traffic lights on my return.
And I was only in Egypt itself for a week. But what a week it was.
As for Carl himself? I haven’t heard from him since, but that’s normal, might be a few years before he’s on the blower to me again, goading me into spunking all my savings again on some other madcap crusade – but the thing is, once you’ve played the Pyramids, where do you go from there?
Perhaps it’s time for him to grace some more of the world’s great wonders. Carl Cox at the Coliseum perhaps? Or the Carl Cox at the Acropolis. Has a good ring to it don’t you think?