LOT #26210 |
Sold on Apr 12, 2024 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
The Rolling Stones 1969 Livermore, CA Altamont Festival Speedway Concert Poster....
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Description
THE ROLLING STONES AT THEIR MOST SYMPATHETIC DEVILISH
The Rolling Stones 1969 Livermore, CA Altamont Festival Speedway
Concert Poster. An original December 1969 concert poster for
the Rolling Stones playing at the ill-fated Altamont Festival which
took place in Livermore, California on Saturday, December 6, 1969.
This fell right after the Stones had concluded their big fall '69
tour of North America - their first trek through the States in 2 ½
long years.The festival, the chaos, the legacy, the tragedy... every rock fan worth their salt knows what went down that day, especially reinforced by the Gimme Shelter movie which came out afterwards. And then reinforced again by the expanded DVD of that movie, filled with commentary by all the players and frame-by-frame analysis of the death that occurred in front of the stage during the Stones' set. (If you happen to subscribe to HBO/Max, Gimme Shelter is available for viewing right now.)
But where our focus lies today is the poster associated with the event... the seldom-seen but oft-discussed poster we have up for sale in this auction. This is the very first time Heritage has been able to offer this poster, and it's a blockbuster. Some like to say that the Altamont festival was "the end of the 60's." (Others put that in more like 1973.) Regardless of what spin you put on it, the Altamont Speedway free show hosted by the Rolling Stones at the end of 1969 was a major rock-music-business turning point for the whole decade and the one about to come.
Although extremely few and far between, this poster has been spotted in differing colors... orange like this one, plus yellow and two shades of green. The central image was obviously knocked off from Bill Graham's BG-201 poster, which used a recent publicity photo of the band by Ron Raffaelli, featuring new member Mick Taylor (center). All it has is about a dozen words: "Rolling Stones, Free Concert, Dick Carter's Altamont Speedway, Livermore, December 6, 1969." Livermore is located about 45 miles east of San Francisco.
This was the Let It Bleed bad-boy Stones whose latest hit, "Honky Tonk Women," had been #1 for a month - the biggest hit of their career. And according to Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart books, Let It Bleed first entered the magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated December 6, 1969... the exact date on this poster.
So the gravitas of the Rolling Stones at this moment cannot be disputed. With the Beatles and Bob Dylan done with touring and Elvis slowly sliding into Las Vegas, this was the Stones filling a vacuum and rightfully staking their claim as the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. The world was theirs, and the stage was set... so what could go wrong if the band put on a free show to thank their fans?
But there was very limited time to get the word out. The final location of the event was decided on just 72 hours in advance. That left precious little time to design and print up an advertising poster. Radio and newspapers would have to be the primary means for getting the word out. However...
Nobody knows who was behind the quick design, printing and 'distribution' of this poster. There has never been a person or persons who stepped forward and said either "I did it" or "I know who did." Hard evidence is lacking everywhere you turn.
However, the best circumstantial evidence we have as to when it was printed is the testimony of several festival attendees who bought the poster on-site - reportedly for a dollar - hung onto it for decades and then sold it to a collector. That scenario has happened several times, involving totally unrelated people.
"I've bought about three of them over the years, and everybody had a story about getting them at the show," says Joe Armstrong, a highly respected collector at the top tier of the hobby. "One guy said a person had a little table set up. Another said somebody was selling them for a dollar, and he just picked one up. Another person I bought one from said it was super-crowded, he was walking around and some guy had a little pile of them and was selling them for a dollar. Every one of them said they attended the show, and all the stories seemed consistent." Armstrong's story matches what other collector/dealers have told us as well.
So with the poster clearly placed as having existed at the concert, the question becomes, was it a legitimately produced official advertising poster, or an unofficial slapdash rogue printing that some entrepreneur was trying to make a few bucks off? The consensus leans heavily toward the latter.
Mike Storeim runs the respected ClassicPosters.com and is a former executive at Heritage, and has sold one of these for big money. "I was a naysayer before I ever really looked hard at one," he says. "But the more I've looked at them, the more I'm [convinced]. I would not have sold one if my feeling was that it was fake."
We consulted another scholarly Rolling Stones collector with one of the best collections in the country, if not the world. He completely pooh-poohs the after-the-fact scenario, and did for years before he ever owned one. "The sloppiness of the image - three different font types, errantly spaced lettering for the venue and date, cheap paper - all speak to a rush job," he says. "In my mind, an [after-the-fact] commemorative piece would have been produced much more carefully, cleanly and thoughtfully."
A lot of observers point out that the sheer rarity of the piece discredits any thoughts of an after-event pirate. "If it was a bootleg, then they wouldn't be rare," Storeim says. And the rarity of this piece is one thing on which all parties agree. "I've never seen or heard of them ever available in like a poster or head shop," Armstrong says. "They're extremely rare."
There's been a benchmark established, too. In December 2019, our friends at the Psychedelic Art Exchange auctioned off this poster for $40,800. And now some lucky Heritage bidder has a chance to take one home. A poster that represents the end of an era, by a band that is still packing stadiums to this day and with rave reviews, too. This first-ever Heritage offering measures 12 3/8" x 18 7/8" and grades to Near Mint condition. This poster has not been graded and slabbed by CGC because it's not part of a series they currently certify. From the David Swartz Concert Poster Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.
More Information: Poster has only the very lightest of toning in the margins.
Auction Info
2024 April 11 - 13 Music Memorabilia & Concert Posters Signature® Auction #7363 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2024
11th-13th
Thursday-Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 51
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 2,706
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% on the first $1,000,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $5,000,000 per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms | Entertainment & Multimedia Grading Tutorial
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms | Entertainment & Multimedia Grading Tutorial