BG-10 Jefferson Airplane, Great Society 1966 Fillmore Concert Poster Signed by Wes Wilson, Graded 8.5. ...

Description

BG-10 Jefferson Airplane, Great Society 1966 Fillmore Concert Poster Signed by Wes Wilson, Graded 8.5. First-printing San Francisco concert poster for the Jefferson Airplane, Great Society with Grace Slick and the Heavenly Blues Band playing at the Fillmore Auditorium on Friday and Saturday nights, June 10 & 11, 1966. Known as BG-10 in the Bill Graham numbered series, this poster features an early, simple design from the dean of San Francisco poster artists, Wes Wilson, who has signed the poster in the bottom center margin. Designer Wilson used a deceptively simple but classic red & black rolling-letter design with a minimum of wording.

This is from the brief one-year window when you could have both the Airplane with Signe Anderson and Great Society with Grace Slick sharing the same stage, a compelling double-whammy. About four months later, Grace would jump to the Airplane and the Society would disband.

RCA Records had just released the Airplane's second single, "Come Up the Years" (sung eloquently by Marty Balin), at the time of this show. The release of their debut LP, Takes Off, was still a couple of months away.

The Great Society featured not only Grace but also her husband Jerry Slick on drums and her brother-in-law Darby Slick on guitar. The latter wrote a little thing called "Someone to Love" that didn't go anywhere for the Society, but would be repurposed later by the Airplane as "Somebody to Love" and become a key anthem of the Summer of Love.

As for the little-known opening act, according to the web site rockprosopography101, "The Heavenly Blues Band were from Raleigh, NC but did not actually make the gig due to an illness in the band." But there is a charming set of photos on Facebook showing the bass player, Bruce Wauchope, successfully steaming the top cover off a Beatles Yesterday and Today album in 1966, revealing the coveted butcher cover underneath - and it's the rare stereo version to boot.

Measures 14" x 20" and was graded to 8.5 Very Fine Plus by CGC (the Certified Guaranty Company). From the David Swartz Concert Poster Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

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