Van Morrison 1970 Boston Tea Party Concert Poster....

Description

Van Morrison 1970 Boston Tea Party Concert Poster. An original concert poster, printed before the show to sell tickets, for Van Morrison, Blodwyn Pig and the Blues Image appearing at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday through Saturday nights, April 16-18, 1970. Van was supporting his classic Moondance album, which revitalized his career just two years after living in Cambridge. He became close friends with a WBCN disc jockey who broadcast from the Tea Party and went by the name "Woofa Goofa" - one Peter Wolf, eventually of the J. Geils Band. Van's set list consisted of "Moondance," "Glad Tidings," "Crazy Love," "Come Running," "The Way Young Lovers Do," "Everyone," "Brown-Eyed Girl," "And It Stoned Me," "These Dreams of You," "Caravan," "Cypress Avenue" and "Into the Mystic." Measures 15 3/4" x 21 1/8" and grades to Near Mint condition. From the David Swartz Concert Poster Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: The Boston Tea Party was to Boston as the Fillmore and Avalon were to San Francisco, the Whisky was to L.A. and the Grande was to Detroit. The capacity was only about 550 but that limit was often exceeded, as many major bands played the famed venue. It was the place to see & be seen in Beantown, and drew a crazy cross-section of college students, hippies, fashion models, Brahmins, bikers, local celebrities, media people, professionals and local white and Black high school kids.

The BTP first opened in January 1967 and ran until December 1970, when it closed after a glorious four-year run as bands started playing larger venues. Similar to the format that Bill Graham used, older blues, soul, R&B and jazz acts were often paired with contemporary rock bands. Posters and fliers used to promote the shows were generally minimalist in design... in sharp contrast to the bold, psychedelic designs of the West Coast.

In addition to local Boston-area bands, groups that appeared at the Boston Tea Party included the Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead, Chicago, Kinks, Small Faces, Elton John, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, J. Geils Band, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Allman Bros., Yardbirds, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin and The Who.

In 1968, the legendary WBCN, the first FM rock station in Boston, began broadcasting from a dressing room in the club, as the station was owned by the same owners as the club. The frontman for the popular local group the Hallucinations, Peter Wolf (later of J. Geils), was also a late-night DJ at 'BCN.

The Boston Tea Party was started by lawyer Ray Riepen and MIT grad David Hann at 53 Berkeley St in the South End of Boston, with a typical club capacity of around 500. In July 1969 it moved to 15 Lansdowne St. in Kenmore Square behind Fenway Park, with the expanded capacity now more like 2,000. The club was first managed by Steve Nelson, who booked the bands, and then by Don Law, who went on to become a major concert promoter.

This poster has not been graded because it's not part of a full series that CGC currently certifies. As a general guideline, CGC grades concert posters from series that have been meticulously cataloged in Eric King's Collector's Guide to Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters, which includes: Bill Graham, Family Dog, Grande Ballroom, Neon Rose and Vulcan Gas Company. In addition to these, CGC also grades posters featured in the Art of Rock book, as well as the modern series Bill Graham Presents (1985-present), New Fillmore (1988-present) and MoonAlice (2007-present). There are many other great psychedelic concert posters outside of these series and which are not pictured in Art of Rock, in part because the authors had to be highly selective with limited space. It's unknown if and when CGC will expand its grading and authenticating beyond those parameters.

Condition details: Has just a little bit of foxing to the poster's surface, gathered from decades but barely there and viewable only by tilting the poster at an angle to the light.


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