Grateful Dead, John Mayall 1970 Houston, TX Psychedelic Concert Poster. ...

Description

Grateful Dead, John Mayall 1970 Houston, TX Psychedelic Concert Poster. An original thick-paper advertising poster for the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, John Mayall and It's a Beautiful Day performing in concert at the Coliseum in Houston, Texas on Sunday, February 22, 1970. This scarce and unusual poster features what we're going to call magenta printing on blue-gray parchment stock, although others may have slightly different colors in mind, such as light purple or pink on a silver-ish background. Regardless, it's an unusual color combo, and an unusual location for two headlining San Francisco bands to be playing fresh in the new decade. Measures 17" x 22" and grades to Very Good condition. From the Tim Backstrom Grateful Dead Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: Most of this poster resembles a Rorschach test taken right out of a light show at the Fillmore. Printing gets normal at the bottom to explain that tickets were priced from $4.50 to $6.50, and available at music stores and the box office.

February 1970 was the exact month the Grateful Dead recorded their classic album Workingman's Dead, at Pacific High Studios in San Francisco. And this show followed by one week the group's legendary three-night stand at New York's Fillmore East, which many fans consider to be their peak live performances ever.

It was a stellar time for Quicksilver, as well, with the best-selling album of their career, Shady Grove, having just entered the charts a month earlier. Why stop now? The best-selling album of John Mayall's career, USA Union, was also released this year; and It's a Beautiful Day were still touring off their self-titled debut album, featuring "White Bird," still very much on the Billboard album chart.

Condition details: There's a 5/8" tear at the poster's top edge directly up from the "C" in "Quicksilver," and a mild ¼" tear at the top center. There are two thumbtack holes in the upper left corner, one in the upper right, one in the lower left and two in the lower right corner. None of them touch a pink line. The thick paper got ruffled & rumpled in the lower left corner area, intruding into "Houston" a little but not hurting it. There are three poster-wide horizontal creases that didn't really ‘stick,' as they're very flat now with just faint traces. The verso has a small white blemish.


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