A Complete Set of the 66 Handbills Designed for Bill Graham Concerts

San Francisco: Tea Lautrec Litho, 1971. Near Fine. All 66 handbills constituting a complete set of those created by Singer for ‘Bill Graham Presents In San Francisco’. These match the full-size posters by Singer for the respective concerts. The reverse of these features a combination of calendar schedules for future performances ranging from a few days to the entire month, locations, calls for auditions, and mentions of basketball games. The largest 5 handbills are 9 1/4” x 7” and the remaining 61 handbills are 7 1/4” x 4 5/8”. All are original, first printings, all are from Singer’s own personal archives, and the fashion designer Peter Golding’s collection (truncated) of rock and roll (auctioned, 2009). Complete collections are of substantial rarity. Most have some soiling and tape remainders on the reverse, else near fine. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bill Graham established himself as the preeminent concert promoter through his legendary venues, Fillmore East and West. Graham’s productions featured both established stars and emerging acts that would later become icons of rock and counterculture.This golden era produced some of the most influential psychedelic art, primarily in the form of concert handbills and posters. After several years of visually stunning but often illegible promotional materials, Graham made a strategic shift in May 1969 by hiring artist David Singer. Singer represented a transition toward a more geometric and refined aesthetic. His work for Graham consisted primarily of collages surrounded by a thematic yet legible font placed around the border rather than integrated within the artwork itself. This design choice gave Graham the practical flexibility to make last-minute lineup changes before printing.

Over the next two years, Singer created 66 posters for Graham—more than any other artist—and continued his career as a rock poster artist long after their collaboration ended. His promotional materials featured an impressive roster of musicians, including:
B.B. King, Santana, Eric Burdon and War, Chicago, The Who, Steve Miller Band, Ike and Tina Turner, James Taylor, Elton John, Everly Brothers, Boz Scaggs, Aretha Franklin, Grateful Dead, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Frank Zappa, The Kinks, Rod Stewart, Taj Mahal, Traffic, Albert King, Allman Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Van Morrison, and many others. (Inventory #: 1105)