The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Poster
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BG030 is a notable departure from the established Wilson style: gone are the human form and lithe lettering. Featuring the Butterfield Blues Band, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, the poster is almost Egyptian in its linearity and verticality and has more in common with Wilson's January Trips Festival handbill than it does with more recent work.
A distinguishing feature of the 1st printing is the presence of a substantial red ink "back-print" of the upper two flowers at the top of the poster. The original poster was printed before the concert on smooth stock with a fine vertical rows pattern. There is a coloration "strip" in the left blue margin about 1 1/2" tall to the left of the word "Butterfield". It measures 11 7/8" x 24 1/4".
The 2nd printing is on porous stock similar to vellum but presents no rows pattern and lacks both the red "back-print" and the "strip" feature of the original printing. It measures 11 7/8" x 24 5/16" and was printed shortly after the show.
The 3rd printing is on uncoated index and also lacks the red "back-print" and "strip" feature. It measures 11 13/16" x 24 1/4".
The 4th printing is on #80 matte cover stock and has "W 2021" in the lower right-hand margin. It was printed in 2021 by Wolfgang's in a 100 copy run. This reprint measures 11" x 24".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.