60s Psychedelic Rock Posters: The Grateful Dead
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Looking for some groovy visuals to take your mind back to the psychedelic 60s? Check out our roundup of the best Grateful Dead posters from that era!
Early Days: The Grateful Dead’s First Psychedelic Rock Posters
The Grateful Dead’s first psychedelic rock posters were designed by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley in 1966. The posters were made to promote the Dead’s concerts in San Francisco. The posters featured the band’s name in curly letters and a picture of a skeleton with a rose in its teeth.
The Fillmore West
In 1968, the psychedelic rock group the Grateful Dead began playing at the Fillmore West, a newly opened music venue in San Francisco. The Dead quickly became one of the most popular acts at the Fillmore, and their concerts were often advertised with colorful psychedelic posters. These early posters are some of the most iconic images of the 1960s counterculture.
The Fillmore West was originally opened as a rock and roll club by impresario Bill Graham in 1965. Graham had previously promoted shows at the Fillmore Auditorium, another San Francisco music venue. The Fillmore West soon became one of the most famous concert venues in America, and it was particularly associated with psychedelic rock music. The Dead began playing at the Fillmore West in 1968, and they quickly became one of the venue’s most popular acts.
The Grateful Dead were known for their long jams, which often incorporated elements of jazz and blues into their psychedelic sound. The band’s concerts were legendary events, and their fans were fiercely loyal. The Dead’s concerts were often advertised with colorful psychedelic posters designed by Stanley Mouse and Bob Thomas. These early posters are some of the most iconic images of the 1960s counterculture.
The Avalon Ballroom
In the 1960s, the Grateful Dead were the house band at the Avalon Ballroom, a psychedelic music venue in San Francisco. They created a series of iconic rock posters to promote their concerts at the Avalon. These posters are some of the most collectible pieces of psychedelic rock art.
The Avalon Ballroom was one of the first places to host live music performances in San Francisco. It was opened in 1966 by Chet Helms, an early proponent of the psychedelic rock scene. The Grateful Dead played at the Avalon Ballroom many times between 1966 and 1968. They were the house band at the venue and helped to create an unforgettable atmosphere that was perfect for dancing and listening to live music.
The Grateful Dead’s concerts at the Avalon Ballroom were advertised with a series of colorful posters that were designed by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. These posters are now some of the most collectible pieces of psychedelic rock art. They feature trippy imagery and bold lettering that captures the spirit of the 1960s. If you’re lucky enough to own one of these posters, you have a true piece of history.
The Summer of Love: The Grateful Dead’s Second Psychedelic Rock Posters
In the summer of 1967, the Grateful Dead released their second wave of psychedelic rock posters. Their first wave, released the previous year, had been hugely popular and established the band as one of the leaders of the psychedelic rock scene. The second wave of posters was even more psychedelic and featured more experimental designs.
The Fillmore West
In early June, the Grateful Dead began a six-week residency at the Fillmore West in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. This was their first show at the Fillmore since January 1966, when they had opened for the Jefferson Airplane. Over the next few weeks, the Dead would play a total of seventeen shows at the Fillmore West.
In addition to being one of their lengthiest residencies ever, this run of shows was also one of the most musically diverse. The Dead showcased a number of new songs that would later appear on their 1968 release, Anthem of the Sun. They also debuted several cover songs, including “Beat It On Down The Line” and “In The Midnight Hour.” This willingness to experiment with their sound would come to define the Grateful Dead’s live performances.
TheFillmore West was also home to some of the most iconic Grateful Dead posters ever produced. Artists such as Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley created a number of psychedelic masterpieces during this time period. These posters helped to establish the Dead’s reputation as one of the most visually appealing bands of their generation.
The summer of 1967 was a defining moment in both the history of the Grateful Dead and psychedelic rock music as a whole. The band’s shows at the Fillmore West cemented their place as one of America’s premier live acts, while their colorful posters became icons of an evolving counterculture movement.
The Avalon Ballroom
Nestled in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, the Avalon Ballroom was one of the main music venues for the West Coast psychedelic rock scene in the late 1960s. The ballroom was originally opened in 1913 as a dance hall, but it underwent a major renovation in 1966 that added a psychedelic light show and transformed it into one of the most popular music venues in the city. The Grateful Dead played several shows at the Avalon Ballroom between 1966 and 1968, and their performances there helped to cement their reputation as one of the premier live bands of the era.
The Avalon Ballroom was also famous for its psychedelic rock posters, which were designed by some of the most prominent artists of the time, including Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Bob Masse. These posters helped to promote the Grateful Dead’s shows at the Avalon and advertised other events that were happening at the venue. The posters are now highly collectible and are prized by fans of both the Grateful Dead and psychedelic rock music.
The Later Years: The Grateful Dead’s Third Psychedelic Rock Posters
As the Grateful Dead’s popularity increased, so too did the demand for their psychedelic rock posters. Unlike their early years, when the band often designed their own posters, in the later years they began to commission artists to create posters for them. This change led to some of the most iconic and influential psychedelic rock posters ever made.
The Fillmore West
The Grateful Dead played the Fillmore West on a total of 18 occasions between February 1968 and July 1971. Bill Graham’s psychedelic rock posters for these shows are among the most popular and collectible of all the Dead’s posters. This collection includes some of the most famous images from the psychedelic era, including Mouse and Kelley’s trippy “butterfly” poster from February 1968, as well as versions of Woody Gelman’s “skull and roses” design from early 1969.
The Avalon Ballroom
The Grateful Dead began playing at the Avalon Ballroom in 1966 and continued to perform there sporadically over the next few years. The Avalon was one of the most popular venues in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, and the Dead were one of the most popular bands of the era. The combination of the two made for some spectacular psychedelic rock posters.
The Avalon Ballroom was owned by Chet Helms, who also managed the Grateful Dead for a time. Helms was a key player in the San Francisco music scene, and he used the ballroom as a platform to showcase some of the most talented psychedelic rock bands of the day. The Dead were one of his favorite bands, and he gave them free rein to design their own posters for their Avalon shows.
Grateful Dead posters from this period are some of the most collectible and highly sought-after pieces of psychedelic art. They feature vibrant colors, intricate designs, and often feature themes that are unique to the band or venue. If you’re lucky enough to own one of these posters, you have a true piece of history.
