Punk

An extremely rare screenprint concert poster for the first international performance by the Sex Pistols at the opening night of Club Chalet Du Lac, Bois de Vincennes, Paris, on 3 September 1976. It is believed that only 100 copies were originally printed and very few appear to have survived.

Manager Malcolm McLaren originally came up with the provocative ‘smoking boy’ motif for a promotional t-shirt that would be sold in his King’s Road clothing boutique Sex in November 1975. Interviewed by author Paul Gorman in 2008, McLaren explained: “This was my first attempt at making a Sex Pistols t-shirt… I wanted to create something of a stir and the idea of the group and the name I gave them was that they were sexy young assassins and the way this boy stood with his cigarette could look like a smoking gun. The image of the boy came from a gay magazine… and the guitar shape was taken using the outline of [original Sex Pistols bassist] Glen Matlock's bass.” When McLaren’s associate Bernie Rhodes took offence to the image and refused to print it, McLaren roped in Matlock, who at the time was an art student and Saturday shop assistant, threatening to fire him from his job unless he agreed to print the t-shirt at his London art college Saint Martin’s. According to McLaren, no more than 40 t-shirts were printed, and many were given away as a way of promoting the band. With the additional of stencilled lettering, naming the Sex Pistols as ‘London’s most notorious band!’, the design was then reused for the promotional poster to advertise the band’s famous gig at the Chalet du Lac in September 1976. When adding the concert details to the poster, Rhodes reportedly tried to cover up the boy’s genitals with lettering, later stating “Malcolm likes to titillate, but I like to get down to substance.”

The Sex Pistols’ two performances at the Chalet Du Lac on 3 and 5 September 1976 were significant as their first international shows, highlighting both their growing popularity and success some three months ahead of the release of their debut single, and the emerging influence of British punk. Recently refurbished from a disco to a live music venue, the club was set to reopen on 3 September 1976. French photographer and concert promoter Pierre Benain was reportedly asked to find the most fashionable British rock band of the time to perform on the opening night and booked the Sex Pistols, marking the start of his working relationship with Malcolm McLaren and the band. The free event attracted a mixed crowd of more than 2000, albeit mostly clubbers from the venue’s disco days, as well as members of the Bromley Contingent – the usual entourage of Pistols fans who had travelled from London to hear the band play, including Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin and Billy Idol. According to Benain, the band arrived late, their equipment having been lost somewhere at Heathrow airport. With no time for a soundcheck, it was after midnight when the Sex Pistols finally kicked off their set with ‘Anarchy in the U.K.’ Reportedly the sound was so awful that the owner of the club attempted to stop the show after only four songs. Despite the lukewarm reception from some of the crowd, the exposure to this radical new British music was electrifying for the nascent French punk scene. A second show on the afternoon of 5 September was recorded and is available as a bootleg.

Concert promoter Pierre Benain retained a small number of the posters that McLaren had mailed to him in July 1976 for pasting up around Paris ahead of the show. This poster was one of five unused copies acquired by a British collector directly from Benain in the early 2000s.

Condition

Very Good (B+)

Unfolded, not backed. Minor nicks and creases to edges. Small dog-ears to upper corners. Unobtrusive vertical creases through central portion, with fine wrinkles to ink in a few spots. Whisper of darkening to edges. A few printer's ink smudges to the reverse. Colours bright and bold.