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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Six - 1970 - Page Six
A rare poster for the Eastown Theater, poster/flyer by an unknown artist for Joe Cocker with the Mad Dogs and Englishmen and special guests Mountain at the Eastown Theater in Detroit, March 20-21, 1970. According to a report, they crammed in two shows per night which led to so many problems the first night that Cocker refused to do a second show the second night.
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Two-page ad for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour, the first show of this epic tour kicked off in Detroit, Michigan at the Eastown Theater, March 20-21, 1970.
Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Honky Tonky Woman (LIVE) (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tqpe99QJw
Another stylish poster by artist Carol Ann, her third, for the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, March 20-21, 1970.
Second version of Carol Ann’s poster for the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, March 20-21, 1970, with the addition of headliner Johnny Winter.
A collection of ads for “An Original Rock Musical”, and “an electric tragedy”, called “Shoppin’” by the group Floating Opera in Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 20-21, 1970. You could also do some shopping for the new MC5 album on sale at Discount Records until March 28th.
An ad and a flyer by an unknown artist for an appearance by The Band at Crisler (not Chrysler) Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 21, 1970. A newspaper review reported that “it was love at first sound for the audience”. The paper said that this song was the closing number that brought a standing ovation.
The Band – Up on Cripple Creek (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisXJSsULGM
A collection of ads for The Band at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 21, 1970.
An ad for the University Store in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a sale on albums by The Band, tied in with their appearance at Crisler Arena on March 21, 1970.
A nice half-page Capitol Records ad for a performance by Grand Funk Railroad in Long Beach, California, opening for Chicago on March 21, 1970, with a good picture of the band from their Madison Square Garden show in New York City about six weeks earlier.
A full-page ad in two colors for Grand Funk Railroad in Long Beach, California, March 21, 1970.
The March 21, 1970 issue of Detroit magazine with cover story on Mike Quatro.
A full-page ad in the March 21, 1970 issue of Billboard magazine for Janus Records which distributed the Westbound record label and the first Funkadelic album along with a pretty eclectic assortment of other releases.
Poster by an unknown artist for Three Dog Night at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti on March 22, 1970.
Handbill by Darlene Pond for the Amboy Dukes, Rumor, Maxx, and New Paris Bakery(?) at the Lansing Armory, March 25, 1970.
The Cincinnati Pop Festival, March 26, 1970, the third Pop Festival of the month for both the Amboy Dukes and the Stooges. Other Michigan bands at this one included Frijid Pink, Brownsville Station, MC5, and listed under both names, the Pleasure Seekers/Cradle.
It was another Russ Gibb & Mike Quatro production, the poster uses the central image from Gary Grimshaw’s classic Detroit Rock & Roll Revival poster from the year before, and although the lettering emulates Grimshaw, it is much too ragged to have come from his hand.
This is not the 1970 Cincinnati Pop Festival that will occur in June at Crosley Field and is better known because it was partially televised.
Early version poster for the Cincinnati Pop Festival, March 26, 1970, with SRC listed, who seem to have cancelled. The photo at the top of the poster looks like promoter Mike Quatro.
The day before they performed at the Cincinnati Pop Festival, the MC5 performed at the Toronto Rock Festival in Canada, March 25, 1970, (odd that both of these all-day shows were on week-days during the school-year, maybe it was spring break?).
Detroit bands, Amboy Dukes (also at Cincinnati the next day), Parliaments and Funkadelic, also on the two-day bill, on the side of which someone inscribed, “Please do not do dope as alcohol is much better”.
The Toronto Pop Festival, March 25, 1970, was also the first stop for the Small Faces First American Tour, technically not America, but they remember opening for the MC5 and “(the Faces) killed the lot of them”.
The tour poster is deliberately inaccurate in that, back in England the band had already changed their name to just the Faces because of an abrupt change of personnel, guitarist Steve Marriott had walked off the stage at their New Year’s Eve concert, shouting, “I quit!”, and had been replaced by Ron Wood on guitar, plus Rod Stewart on vocals, both of whom had just left the Jeff Beck Group. The band felt that the change warranted the new, shortened name, but the record company in the US wanted to continue to capitalize on the established Small Faces name, so for a while both names were used, depending on the side of Atlantic. But in either case, this was still the first US tour, as it appears that the Steve Marriott version never toured the US.
The tour is documented in a book by Ian McLagen, the band’s, now legendary, keyboardist and in a chapter called “Made in Detroit”, he recounts his first visit to the Motor City and goes on to say:
“In America, The Faces, like the automobiles, were made in Detroit. The kids from Detroit were the fuel that ignited us. Life was tough in Detroit and they had the same attitude we had. They really needed to rock and roll. They were loyal too, they’d keep coming back and bringing their friends, who in turn brought their friends.
“Between the beginning of April and the end of May, 1970, we played two nights at the Eastown, two nights at the Palladium in Birmingham, on the outskirts of Detroit, three more nights at the Eastown, and a show at Lansing University (sic) eighty miles away. We were becoming the local heroes and the girls kept coming back for more.”
The Faces – Around the Plynth (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tboaLw7S1gc
The day after the Cincinnati Pop Festival, it was right back out to the East Coast for the MC5, playing in Danbury, Connecticut, March 27, 1970. Poster made by the show promoter, John Bragg. Opening acts were Michael Brody and the interestingly named Foul Grundle. Also, it was common to list the light show company near equal billing to the bands, at this show, we have the Crystal Revenge Light Show.
Alice Cooper’s second album was released on March 27, 1970, again on Frank Zappa’s Straight record label (Zappa’s “mainstream” label, as compared to the companion Bizarre Records) with this lovely half-page ad. The final track on “Easy Action” is a remake of a song the band had recorded as Nazz. About the only thing the two tracks have in common is the title.
Nazz – Lay Down and Die, Goodbye (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UokMFcEZ3wU
Alice Cooper – Lay Down and Die, Goodbye (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6gQ-twlgr0
An ad for Alice Cooper’s second album “Easy Action”, released on March 27, 1970.
The full album can be heard here:
Alice Cooper – Easy Action (album) (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-jqJo73xs&list=PLz6cAheObZci3YHw0grrh9DXUQQC3jRRa
Ann Arbor artist Dave Baker, still in Berkeley, California, provided the illustration and lettering for Dave Yippie’s survival guide published in the March 27, 1970 issue of The Berkeley Tribe newspaper.
Two full-page illustrations by Ann Arbor artist Dave Baker in the March 27, 1970 issue of The Berkeley Tribe newspaper in California.
An ad by Gary Grimshaw for the Chaldea store in Berkeley, California, published in the March 27, 1970 issue of The Berkeley Tribe newspaper. Grimshaw would bring the character back with him when he returns to Michigan later in the year and re-use it for an ad for an Ann Arbor store in the November 12, 1970 issue of the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper.
A poster by Randy Tuten with Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen opening for the Youngbloods at the 660 Great Highway in San Francisco, California, March 27-29, 1970.
On March 28, 1970, the day after the “Easy Action” album was released, Alice Cooper appeared at the Ludllow Garage in Cincinnati, Ohio, opening for Ten Years After with yet another of Jim Tarbell’s Persian Rug-design posters.
Sometime early in 1970, Mike Quatro decided to get out of the promotion business and he sold his interests to Dave Leone, the founder of the original Hideout, who renamed the agency DMA, Diversified Management Agency.
On the above promo sheet, dated March 28, 1970, you can see the list of groups that came under this umbrella. Leone’s Hideout partner, Punch Andrews had established Punch Enterprises, who were booking Bob Seger, Third Power and the Frost. And Robin Seymour still had his hand in the scene, mainly managing the Rationals.
A pair of ads for Three Dog Night with John Mayall, Sweetwater and Frost at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on March 28, 1970, The image on the left was also published as a poster.
An enhanced ad for Brownsville Station, Sunday Funnies, Tea, and Universal Family at Daniel’s Den in Saginaw, Michigan on March 29, 1970.
Another Easter Sunday show, with Siegel-Schwall and Third Power at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, March 29, 1970, the third poster/ad by Perry Highway.
Carolyn Heines presented her second show of the year at the Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan with two shows on Easter Sunday, March 29, 1970, by The Byrds. The shows were also the debut of the band Phlegethon, the new name, and new direction, for Aris Hampers’ Soul Benders. Their first recording was a version of Betty Everett’s “You’re No Good”.
Phlegethon – You’re No Good (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJVjBYf9PYY
A full-page Motown Records ad for the single “It’s All In The Game” by the Four Tops, the second single from their sixth studio album “Still Waters Run Deep”, released in March 1970.
Three ads by Dennis Preston from March 1970.
A collection of ads for the Plum Pit and the Poster Pit stores from January through March 1970, some are signed by “Decker” and “Seybold”.
The first issue of National Lampoon was published in April 1970. If you’re finding yourself with some time on your hands and would like to read every page of every issue, you will find them here: http://www.luckyfrogfarms.com/cook/NL/
The cover of the April 1970 issue of CREEM magazine, featuring photos of the Joe Cocker band at the Eastown shows. It is published as Vol. 2, No. 12, getting back on track as there had been no Number Eleven due to the repeat of Number Ten.
A full-page ad for WKNR-FM radio in Detroit, Michigan, which appeared in the April 1970 issue of CREEM magazine.
The third issue of Big Fat magazine from Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 1970. The cover photo, which is one our all-time favorite concert shots, is by photographer Tom Copi, taken at the Rock & Roll Revival in Detroit on February 27, 1970 (although some sources identify the photo as being from the Cincinnati Pop Festival on March 26, 1970, the backdrop curtain in the full shot looks like other photos from the Olympia show. Diddley is also not found on the posters, or in any listings of the line-up, for the Cincinnati Pop Festival.)
The high school kids were at it again, with a poster by an unknown artist as the junior class of Whitmore Lake High School brought the Bob Seger System to their school for a show on April 1, 1970.
Handbill by Darlene Pond for a show in Saginaw, Michigan on April 1, 1970 with Frijid Pink, Third Power, Blues Train, Virgin Dawn, Pitche Blend and Brownsville Corey(?)
Illustration by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) in the April 2, 1970 edition of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit.
Poster for the somewhat odd pairing of Grand Funk Railroad with Sly & the Family Stone at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 3, 1970. This line-up, however, did not occur as the band Crowbar opened for Sly instead of Grand Funk.
Newspaper ad for the Stooges at the Warehouse in Providence, Rhode Island, April 3-4, 1970, with SRC appearing two weeks later.
An ad with Frijid Pink opening for Steppenwolf in Providence, Rhode Island on April 4, 1970.
An ad for a “Carny ‘70” party at the University of Detroit in Detroit Michigan on April 4, 1970, featuring the Bob Seger System, Savage Grace, Detroit (possibly their earliest gig) and Dhobi’s Itch.
With his fourth poster, artist Perry Highway really stepped up the game, creating the most elaborate poster that Grandmother’s in East Lansing had ever used, for these April 5, 1970 shows by Alice Cooper, Savage Grace, and Zephyr.
A second poster for Alice Cooper at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, April 5, 1970, again by the mysterious Perry Highway.
An ad and poster for the Moody Blues in Santa Clara, California on April 5, 1970 that uses the same artwork as on the cover of the SRC album “Traveler’s Tale”, released in February 1970. It will be used yet again for a Jimi Hendrix concert later in April.
A nice poster for Frijid Pink opening for Steppenwolf in Providence, Rhode Island on April 4, 1970.
Poster/ad with Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen at Mandrakes in Berkeley, California on April 5, 1970.
Newspaper ad for Gordon Lightfoot at the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing, Michigan, April 6, 1970. It was Lightfoot's 51st Michigan show since his lengthy engagements at Detroit clubs Raven Gallery and Living End, beginning in 1965.
Volume Six - 1970 - continues - HERE
As we noted above, “…the Ten Point Program of the White Panthers was a list of demands for free stuff that would make Bernie Sanders blush…” A large two-page poster in The Ann Arbor Argus newspaper, likely by Dave Baker in March 1970.
