Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Pyramids Concerts Following Anyma Show

Photo Credit: KennyOMG

Are loud, high-attendance concerts damaging the Pyramids? A Cairo-based NGO believes so, and it’s filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent future shows from taking place at the Great Pyramids of Giza.

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) summarized its complaint, submitted to one of the African nation’s administrative courts on behalf of multiple individuals, in an October 8th release.

Probably not coincidentally, the release and the suit itself arrived days before Anyma became the latest professional to perform at the Great Pyramids. Now, with others likewise looking to stage shows at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the action is making a media splash.

The way ECESR sees things, Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister, Giza’s governor, and more “have failed to fulfill their legal duty to protect the site despite being fully aware of the ongoing nighttime festivities.”

Said festivities certainly refer to Anyma’s double set – though Carl Cox and Keinemusik have also played the Pyramids, to name a couple examples, and Travis Scott previously attempted to do so.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s EXIT festival – by organizers’ own description, their event “can’t be held in Serbia next year…due to our support of student protests” – is plotting a 2026 happening “in front of the Great Pyramids in Giza.”

With these and adjacent points front of mind, the mentioned organization is specifically taking issue with “loud nighttime concerts that employ sound equipment producing high-frequency vibrations capable of destabilizing the ancient stone structures.”

Not stopping there, ECESR is calling out “laser lighting systems that do not comply with international standards for illumination at heritage sites.” And more significantly than that, “excavation or construction” projects tied to live concerts “pose a serious risk to the structural integrity of the Pyramids,” per the filing entity.

As for the desired relief, the suit is seeking an order “suspending all concerts and events within the archaeological sanctuary” and setting in motion “immediate protective measures,” according to ECESR.

Those measures would include steps to rehabilitate the “site in accordance with international conservation standards” – while “a comprehensive review of existing contracts with private companies” would seek “to ensure transparency and the protection of public funds,” per the organization.

On the other side of the courtroom confrontation, the above-noted defendants didn’t seem to have publicly addressed the complaint at the time of this writing. DMN reached out to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response.