The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Handbill
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.
The handbill has two 1st printing variations, both which pre-date the concert.
1st printing A is on .005" thick paper, with "In Advance: $3.00" and "At the Door: $3.50" in white letters over a blue background. It measures 4 1/2" x 8 1/4".
1st printing B is on .008" thick paper, with "In Advance: $3.00" and "At the Door: $3.50" in blue letters over a white background. It measures 4 1/4" x 8 3/4".
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.