Otis Redding 1967 Concert Poster for the Show He Died En Route To....

Description

Otis Redding 1967 Concert Poster for the Show He Died En Route To. An original 1967 concert poster for Otis Redding appearing at the Factory in Madison, Wisconsin for two shows on Sunday evening, December 10, 1967. Sadly, his plane crashed en route and Mr. Redding did not survive the accident, nor did four members of the Bar-Kays. So this psychedelic paper concert poster joins the ranks of the Buddy Holly Morehead, MN and Hank Williams Canton, OH posters as infamous pieces of concert advertising with a very sad, historic angle.

Which makes the name of the third-billed act on this poster all the more surreal... "The Grim Reapers." Oh, my. But that band featured a young Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson, who would go on to become Cheap Trick, a band that started making big noise 10 years later. The Bar-Kays, of course, were Otis' back-up group, who had enjoyed their own Top 20 pop hit earlier in '67 with "Soul Finger."

This is the lavender/purple version of this poster, which was also printed in goldenrod. No artist, however, is credited for the poster's sublime artwork. Last fall we sold the goldenrod version for $4,500. Measures 16 3/4" x 22 1/4" and grades to repaired Very Good condition. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: The poster's graphics are especially touching, with "Tenderness" appearing in the art, surely tied to the fact that one of Otis' signature songs was "Try a Little Tenderness." Three days before the plane crash, Otis had re-recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." It was released as a single posthumously, and not only became his only Top 20 pop hit ever, but went all the way to #1 and stayed there for a month. The nation was mourning him.

Condition details: The poster has a slightly lightened area that measures about 2" wide by 4" tall over to the right of "Factory" in the psychedelic artwork. The "I" and "M" in "Grim" are also lighter, so this is of unknown origin and we suppose could possibly be uneven ink that occurred in the printing process. The poster also had several horizontal creases which have been totally minimized by Chameleon Restoration; the most pronounced one runs across the middle point of the poster and touches the very top of the letters in "One Night Only," but is hardly a factor anymore. The four corners also have four extremely small pin-pricks which must've been caused by the tiniest pins possible. There are one or more in each corner and one top center, but about the only way to see them is to hold the poster up to a bright light source like a window.