Posters

A scarce original concert poster for a run of shows headlined by B.B. King with support from Cold Blood and J. Geils Band at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts, from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 January 1970. The simple design spotlights the legendary Bluesman as the star of the show. With blues-rock performers like Eric Clapton and Paul Butterfield bringing blues music to appreciative white audiences in the late 1960s, King's manager Sid Seidenberg pushed him into performing at hippie rock venues like the Boston Tea Party. By 1970, King had gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on the Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour.

Boston concert venue the Boston Tea Party hosted an impressive roster of acts over its four-year run from 1967 to 1970, including Led Zeppelin, The Who, the Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, Elton John, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, the Allman Bros. Band, the Yardbirds, Van Morrison and Jeff Beck. Posters and fliers printed to promote the Boston Tea Party shows were more minimalist and striking in design than the intricate and flamboyant psychedelic posters produced by West Coast venues of the same era, and their extremely small print runs have made them infinitely more scarce.

Condition