The Mystery Trend Poster
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One of the rarest and most unusual posters in the BG series, this was Wes Wilson's first poster for Bill Graham. Wilson's comic-book Batman and Robin contemplate the famous mynah bird, an on-stage feature of early Fillmore concerts. The show itself was a prime example of the eclectic nature of Fillmore events in the early days.
The 1st printing can be identified by the diagonal "rows" pattern found on the reverse side of the paper. It displays a lighter orange/gold than the reprints and measures 14" x 20".
The 2nd printing bears union logo 221 in the bottom margin and does not show the rows found on the back of the 1st printing. On this printing, the distance from the upper corner of the "T" in "Presents" to the bottom of the "y" in "Berkeley" is 19 5/16". This poster measures 13 15/16" x 20" and was printed after the concert, sometime between 5/6/1966 and 10/23/1966.
The 3rd printing was also printed after the concert, but bears no union logo. The identifying distance as described for the previous printing is also 19 5/16". The orange/gold background is slightly darker on this 3rd printing than on the others, and it measures 14" x 20".
The 4th Printing was done in 2013. Wes Wilson did a reprint of his own of the Batman image. This was printed on a stock with a gold foil front and a white reverse. This was a limited edition, signed and numbered, 1 to 55.
The 5th Printing was printed on glossy stock and bears a Wolfgang's notation in the lower right-hand margin. It was printed in 2018 by Wolfgang's in a 500 copy run. It measures 21 1/2" x 32 7/16".
The 6th printing is on #80 matte cover stock. It resembles the 3rd printing 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 14" x 20".
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.