Tom Petty, The Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and more. Some of my favourite USA Rock pics - Adrian Boot / Urbanimage

1978 and The Grateful Dead are in Egypt. Playing three concerts before a thousand people a night at the Sound and Light Theatre, Giza, at the foot of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, with special guest, the local musician Hamza el Din. In reality the audience, other than a plane-load of Dead Heads, was a bunch bemused Bedouins and their goats. I am here with Max Bell from the NME and Mick Watts from the Melody Maker. My job was to photograph the event for both papers, in monochrome as the UK rock press was still 100% black and white. Our paymasters as usual was the record company, keen to promote the Grateful Deadu 2019s autumn UK concert and European tour. Today the idea of a rock band performing in Egypt holds far less cache than it in1978. It was unquestionably a novel notion when the Grateful Dead sought to begin diplomatic talks between the U.S. Government and Egyptian officials to permit the band to bring their acid trip to Cairo's new Gizah Sound %26 Light Theater. Considering the precarious political state of the world at the time, it is a minor miracle that these shows came off at all.

Tom Petty - American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys.

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well known for its members' white and black face paint and flamboyant stage outfits. These photographs were taken at a 1980 concert in Rome

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston".

The Akron Music scene - Devo, The Waitresses etc.

Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s

Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

Anthrax is an American thrash metal band from New York City, NY, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy.

The B-52s are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson, and Keith Strickland.

Bad Company is an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen, nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records and tours with the E Street Band.

Chuck Berry is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.

Clover was an American country rock band formed in Mill Valley, California in 1967. They are best known as the backup band for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True (recorded in the UK), and for members later forming or joining more successful acts, including Huey Lewis and the News,.

Devo is an American punk rock/new wave band formed in 1972 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio.

Graceland is a large white mansion and estate in Memphis, Tennessee that was once home to Elvis Presley. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard about 9 miles from Downtown Memphis and Beale street home of BB King and Sun Studios.

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director

Iggy Pop (born James Newell "Jim" Osterberg, Jr.; April 21, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Considered an innovator of punk rock.

Grace Slick - an American singer, songwriter, artist, and former model, best known as one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, as well as for her work as a solo artist from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. She is considered one of the best female voices in rock history.

Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970 he founded The Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band.

Kid Creole and the Coconuts are an American musical group created and led by August Darnell. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular "American and Latin American, South American, Caribbean, Trinidadian and conceptually inspired by the big band era. The Coconuts are a glamorous trio of female backing vocalists whose lineup has changed throughout the years.

Mars was a New York City rock band formed by vocalist Sumner Crane in 1975.

Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career that began in the 1960s. Diamond has sold over 125 million records worldwide.

Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist.

Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer.

Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario.

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican and American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, Latin music and jazz fusion.

Southside Johnny is an American singer-songwriter, who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.

Talking Heads was an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.

Television is an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon.

The Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American Punk Rock band, formed in New York in May, 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock.

The Replacements are an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979, and are considered pioneers of alternative rock

One of the world's most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist, and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone.

Tom Waits - an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon. These images are from a 1981 photo session in London and 1985 photo sessions in Paris and New York.

Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.

William Burroughs 1914 – 1997 was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century".

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg, Northern Germany.

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, shortened in 1975 to Dr. Hook, was an American rock band, formed around Union City, New Jersey. They enjoyed considerable commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of Rolling Stone", "Sharing the Night Together", "A Little Bit More" and "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"

Tom Tom Club is an American New Wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, both also members of Talking Heads. They spent time in the Bahamas recording at Compass Point Studios. Recently in 2010 they reformed and played live at Island Records 50th Birthday event in London.

Robert Clark Seger is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s.

Linda Maria Ronstadt is an American popular music and country music singer. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum

Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist. Her self-titled debut album Melissa Etheridge was released in 1988 and became an underground success.

Ellen Foley is an American singer and actress who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom Night Court. In music, she has released four solo albums but is best known for her collaborations with rock singer Meat Loaf.

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, and record producer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper (born June 22, 1953)[1] is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist.[2][3] Her career has spanned over 30 years.