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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
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The Grande Ballroom Posters - Page Nine
The 135th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, May 2-4, 1969, featured Leni Sinclair’s second poster for the venue, co-credited to Darlene, whom we believe is Darlene Pond, who was in charge of the MC5 fan club. This was the first Michigan appearance for Creedence Clearwater Revival, who were on a roll and released three albums in the year.
CCR, the Churls and Litter performed on the first two nights, and Taj Mahal appeared for the Sunday night show, also with the Churls and Litter.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5V9nK7-OkM
A copy of the May 2-4, 1969 Grande Ballroom postcard that reveals the under-layer photo of the band.
Another “in process” shot of the Grande Ballroom postcard by Darlene Pond and Leni Sinclair for the Michigan debut of Creedence Clearwater Revival, May 2-4, 1969. The photo of the band is practically lost when the brown layer crowd shot is printed over.
A newsprint version of the poster by Leni Sinclair and Darlene Pond for the first Michigan appearance by Creedence Clearwater Revival, at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, May 2-3, 1969, from the Fifth Estate newspaper.
Record label ad for the Canadian band The Churls who opened for Creedence Clearwater Revival and Taj Mahal at the Grande Ballroom, May 2-4, 1969. Discovered in a Toronto nightclub by the Everly Brothers, of all people, these guys should have been huge.
The Churls – Time Piece (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z44ynr0M1aI
The 136th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, May 9-11, 1969 featured Carl Lundgren’s 27th (and final) poster for the venue. You can see that Carl was still in comic book mode, having just finished months of work on Tales from the Ozone #1 and hanging around with Robert Crumb.
The Who and Joe Cocker performed all three nights, with support by Maend and Mixed Generation.
These shows were famously the first time that The Who performed their rock opera Tommy in the US, and while all of the eyewitness accounts that we’ve seen report that it was fantastic, a majority of them also claim that the real highlight, however, was Joe Cocker, in his first Michigan appearances.
With some downtime between the end of The Yardbirds and the start of Led Zeppelin, the guitar player on the studio recording of “With a Little Help from my Friends” was none other than Jimmy Page. Cocker’s touring band, the Grease Band, were the core group for the recording of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and went onto even bigger collective and individual fame.
Joe Cocker – With a Little Help from my Friends (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6waXtxosJ4A
We’re beginning to find posters like this, with an artist photo, titled “Live” at The Grande. We believe these may have been issued shortly after the shows, and may be actual live shots taken from the shows. This one is for Joe Cocker at the Grande Ballroom, May 9, 1969, when he opened for The Who’s US premier of Tommy, and is credited to Adams/Haron.
The newspaper ad for The Who at the Grande Ballroom, May 9-11, 1969, again featured the lightning bulb logo by Dave Baker, and pointed out that the band would premier their new rock opera. The world-wide premier of Tommy had occurred only one week earlier in London, England. The Grande Ballroom in Detroit was the first performance in the USA.
Carl Lundgren made this poster for Led Zeppelin at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, May 16, 1969, however, “Jimmy Page’s new band” was still not large enough of a draw to fill the Olympia, and with poor ticket sales the show was moved over to the Grande Ballroom.
Not only was Jimmy Page’s new band not yet popular enough to fill the Olympia Stadium, promoters still could not get the band name quite right yet either. When they rescheduled over to the smaller Grande Ballroom, they ended up in an unlikely pairing with Sun Ra.
The 137th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, May 16-18, 1969 featured Gary Grimshaw’s 61st poster for the venue. The final line-up for these shows was Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, and Sun Ra for two shows on May 16th, with MC5, Sun Ra and Golden Earring on the 17th and 18th.
This image was produced only in postcard form. No poster is known to exist for this event.
There are four types of original postcards, all approximately 4″ x 7″.
The main one has a “Grande Ballroom” imprint and a description of the shows printed on the back. Others either have one or the other, or are blank on back.
We’ve heard that Gary Grimshaw was never happy with the colors, or the color separations, on his Sun Ra Grande Ballroom poster of May 16-18, 1969, and as shown in the previous post, it is pretty hard to read. A clearer intent comes through on this charcoal and white version, revealing the opening act, the British band Cartoone.
As we know from the previous posts, Led Zeppelin was a last-minute add to the bill on the first night. The back of the postcards had the updated schedule and it shows that coming along with Led Zeppelin, and staying on to open the other two nights as well, was a band from The Netherlands, called Golden Earrings, with their first Michigan appearance.
The Golden Earrings (they would drop the “s” off the end of the name by the end of 1969), were already a highly popular band in their home country, having formed in 1961, with hit records as early as 1965, and with five released albums by this time.
Golden Earrings – Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktI1iAqXxuc
Gary Grimshaw’s poster for Sun Ra with the MC5 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, May 16-18, 1969, was difficult to print, especially in the small postcard format, which was the only way it was issued. We’ve heard that Grimshaw was never happy with the colors, or the color separations and the group shown above show the inconsistent results, along with a couple of oddball printings, the best one possibly the charcoal.
This piece also represents the end of an era of regularly produced posters/postcards for the Grande Ballroom by the likes of Grimshaw, Carl Lundgren, Donnie Dope, and others. Except for a nice piece by Darlene Pond for the Frost in August, and a few one-off flyers, there would only be print ads for the Grande Ballroom shows for the remainder of 1969.
Gary Grimshaw’s Sun Ra poster marked the end of an era for Grande Ballroom posters. There would not be another Grande poster for the rest of 1969, there are a couple of flyers to come, but not any more on the creative quality of Grimshaw, Lundgren, Donnie Dope, or any of the other Grande artists seen so far.
Which is a shame, because we never got a poster for Dr. John the Night Tripper, in his first Michigan appearance on May 21, 1969 at the Grande Ballroom. He performed with the group It’s A Beautiful Day. The next day, It’s A Beautiful Day opened for the Stooges.
And although Joe Cocker had up-staged the Who’s premier of Tommy earlier in the month, they still couldn’t get his name right when he returned two weeks later, on May 23-24, 1969. Joe Cocker & the Grease Band headlined two shows, supported by the James Gang with Savage Grace, and Plum Wine with Third Power.
These were the fourth and fifth Michigan shows for Joe Cocker, who would have ten Michigan shows in 1969.
On Sunday, May 25, 1969, the Soul Remains performed, with Train and the UP.
For the first time in its history, the Grande Ballroom was closed for a weekend, in fact it was closed for two weekends in a row from May 30 through June 8. It reopened with three shows, June 13-15, 1969, with Vanilla Fudge headlining two nights, supported by Frost and Savage Grace only on the second night. For the Sunday night show, Frost and Savage Grace returned to the stage.
Newspaper ad for the 140th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, June 20-22, 1969, with the only Michigan appearances by the band Black Pearl. The new lettering of the Grande Ballroom looks like the work of Dave Baker, and with no further posters to come for the Grande in 1969, this lettering will be used frequently in the newspaper ads.
The Bonzo Dog Dooda Band from England failed to show, as did the band called Falcon (and also the band Raven on the earlier ad) . Golden Earring and Black Pearl performed the three nights.
The Jethro Tull shows also failed to materialize; sources show them at the Fillmore East in NYC on July 3, 1969.
An ad for the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan with Slim Harpo appearing June 27-29, 1969, opening for Chuck Berry for two nights. Also appearing both nights were the Red White & Blues Band, although the band Sky appears to have not made the show. It also appears that the Sunday show, on the 29th, was cancelled.
On the 142nd weekend, July 3-5, 1969, Savoy Brown headlined two shows, skipping over the Fourth of July to perform at the Rock and Roll Revival No, 2 at the Mount Clemons Raceway. The other bands for those two nights were All The Lonely People, Pentangle, and the Sun.
An interesting ad for the Grande Ballroom in the first issue of the Underground Flick newspaper, July 1969.
A flyer for a “missing” show at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, a benefit show for Open City on July 9, 1969, featuring Pentangle, held over from their appearance on July 5th, along with Savage Grace and Sky (sic). The flyer also has a show at Alvin’s, also in Detroit, with David & Roselyn and a Billy Tyler Jam Session on July 11th.
An Open Letter from Russ Gibb to Bill Graham touting the Michigan rock scene and inviting Graham to make a visit (it’s unlikely that he did). Gibb specifically mentions, among other things, the shows at the Grande Ballroom for the weekend of July 3-5, 1969 with Savoy Brown and Pentangle (again, unlikely that Gibb got the Grateful Dead for the Sunday show.
Newspaper ad for the Grande Ballroom, July 11-20, 1969. The July 11-12 shows appear to have been cancelled. For the 143rd weekend, July 18-20, 1969, Spooky Tooth headlined three shows, with Ten Years After at the first two. Local support was provided by the Chip Stevens Band, Sand, and Stuart Avery Assemblage.
A pair of ads from the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper, on the left is Dave Baker’s distinctive lettering for the Grande Ballroom with a ten-day schedule, although the first two shows on the list, Three Dog Night with Litter, July 11-12, 1969, appear to have been cancelled. The ad also lists a “Salute to Michigan Rock” with Sky, Third Power, and Savage Grace at Oakland University on July 12th.
On the right is an ad for a presentation by Legal Self Defence in honor of John Sinclair at the Eastown Theatre in Detroit, with films, a poetry reading, a mock “People’s Trial”, and music by MC5, Stooges, and UP on July 13, 1969.
A poster/flyer for a benefit show for the John Sinclair Defense Fund at the Grande Ballroom on July 23, 1969, featuring the MC5, Stooges, and the Tate Blues Band. Five days later, on July 28, Sinclair was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Newspaper ad for the 144th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 25-27, 1969, with the Jeff Beck Group headlining two shows, supported by Man, Catfish, and Sky. The 145th weekend presented the return of Joe Cocker & the Grease Band (still misspelled as “Crocker”) for two shows, August 1-2, supported by Sky both nights, and by Geyda and the Chip Stevens Blues Band.
Jeff Beck brought his group back to Detroit, their tenth show at the Grande Ballroom in just a year’s time. No more great posters being made for the Grande, but we do have this recording of the full July 26, 1969 show. Sounds like whoever recorded it was standing next to Beck’s amplifier, Rod Stewart’s vocals can barely be heard, but you get a nice guitar lesson.
Jeff Beck - Live at the Grande Ballroom (7/26/1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YSgsBxIkU
The backside of Gary Grimshaw’s card for Sun Ra at the Grande Ballroom, May 16-18, 1969 with the Grande Ballroom imprint and the show list.
A newspaper ad for Vanilla Fudge at the Grande Ballroom, June 13-14, 1969, and for Black Pearl on the following weekend. "The Frat" was likely a misinterpretation of the Frost and Savage Grace apparently took the place of Third Power.
Well, it worked for the MC5, so the decision was made that Frost would record their second album for Vanguard Records, live at the Grande Ballroom, August 6-7, 1969. Poster by Darlene Pond. All The Lonely People opened the first night, with Third Power opening on the second night.
This image was originally printed as both a 14” x 18” poster and as a postcard. The poster was printed on four different colors of paper - blue, yellow, white, and gray. The postcard was printed on blue stock. (The blue and the white posters shown above).
The yellow paper version of the poster by Darlene Pond for Frost at the Grande Ballroom, August 6-7, 1969, the nights of the recording of Frost’s second album.
The postcard version of the poster by Darlene Pond for Frost at the Grande Ballroom, August 6-7, 1969.
For the 146th weekend at the Grande Ballroom there was only one show, on Friday, August 8, 1969, with Terry Reid and Savoy Brown. There was also another benefit show for Michigan Senator Roger Craig, with the Stooges, Catfish, and Sky at the Grande Ballroom on Wednesday, August 13, 1969.
A busy weekend for promoter Russ Gibb, with shows at the Grande Ballroom, a Bob Seger concert at the Oakland Mall in Troy, and an upcoming Tim Buckey show at the Meadowbrook Theater. Maybe one reason that we were no longer getting posters for the shows at the Grande Ballroom might be because Gibb’s promotion work was spreading so widely.
This appearance of Bob Seger at the Oakland Mall is not to be confused with the more famous one for the Grand Opening of the mall in October, 1968. At that one, an unexpected 20,000 people showed up, snarling traffic and overtaking the parking lot completely, leaving the merchants with no customers on their big opening day. The mall owner caught a lot of flak for that, so it’s a bit surprising that Gibb got them to do it again ten months later.
The 147th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 15-16, 1969, featured Bo Diddley with Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys both nights, joined by Savage Grace on the second night.
This appears to be the fourth, and final, time that Savage Grace played the Grande Ballroom. Here are recordings:
Savage Grace – Live at the Grande Ballroom (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CmNlyp-ywY
An extremely rare poster/flyer for a mid-week show at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, a benefit show for the Biafrian Relief Fund on Wednesday, August 20, 1969. The bands were Frut of the Loom, Flow, and Gold Brothers.
Poster is signed by Duffen, who may have been a band member of Flow. A quite remarkable find.
A color Elektra Records promotional tour blank poster with the dates for the Stooges at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, August 22-23, 1969. The Stooges opened for the Jagged Edge the first night and headlined the second night with Frost and All The Lonely People as the opening acts.
We believe this to be authentic, or at least we hope so for the person that paid $7,770 for it at auction (it is).
An ad for the Grande Ballroom with a benefit show for the Midwest Printing Co-Op on Sunday, August 24, 1969, that featured All The Lonely People, Fuchia, Girls Inc., Sky, and the UP. It also has the shows for the 149th weekend at the Grande, August 29-30, with the Keef Hartley Band and Colosseum performing two nights. Third Power opened on the first night.
A second ad for the Grande Ballroom, August 22-30, 1969, with the additional listing for a Fifth Estate Benefit show on September 1st. The band Orange Crush is also listed for the show on August 30.
The Stooges show at the Grande Ballroom, August 22, 1969 also saw “the return of Stoney & the Jagged Edge”, another ad called it their “(debut)”. The band had crashed and burned seemingly at the height of success in late 1968, but they were giving it another go.
A killer full-page poster/ad by an unknown artist in The Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit for their own benefit show at the Grande Ballroom, September 1, 1969, featuring MC5, the Stooges, and the Gold Brothers.
A newspaper events calendar with the 150th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 5-6, 1969, with two shows by Johnny Winter and Sky.
The 151st weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 12-13, 1969, featured one of the strangest line-ups of the venue’s history, the pop music of The Turtles combined with the psychedelic folk of the pre-T-Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex from England. Local support by the Sun and Thomas Blood. The ad also hints at a “New Grande” which would be the Riviera Theater a few blocks away.
Record company ad for the British band Tyrannosaurus Rex with tour dates for their first US tour, including their first Michigan appearances, at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, September 12-13, 1969. They shared the bill with The Turtles, who were making their second Michigan appearances.
The tour was the end of the two-piece configuration of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took. Bolan expanded the band to a four-piece rock group and shortened the band name to T-Rex. Took became involved with the British underground rock scene with the band Pink Fairies and others, and appearing with the MC5 during their British tour.
The pairing of Tyrannosaurus Rex with the American pop band The Turtles at these Grande Ballroom shows was not as odd of a combination as it might seem. Ex-Turtles Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan later sang back-up on T-Rex’s first #1 UK single “Hot Love” in 1971, as well as the follow-up “Get It On”, and the albums “Electric Warrior” and “The Slider”.
The was also a show at the Grande Ballroom on September 18, 1969, with Chuck Berry, but no with additional information.
The 152nd weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 19-20, 1969, and the return of the MC5 to the ballroom for the first time in four months (other than a July 23 benefit for Legal Self Defense, the last time had been opening for Sun Ra in May – which was also the last Grande Ballroom show with a decent poster). Charlie Musselwhite and Wilson Mower Pursuit also performed both nights.
Charley Musslewhite had performed at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival a month earlier and this appears to be his first Detroit appearance, which is odd considering how he was such good friends with John Lee Hooker. Hooker was the best man for Musslewhite’s third marriage, and Musslewhite convinced Hooker to move to California to join him after Musslewhite left Chicago and found admiration from the hippies in San Francisco.
Charley Musslewhite – Christo Redemptor (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUplSejUHmk
A newspaper ad for the 153rd weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 26-27, 1969, with Frost and the Bonzo Dog Band performing both nights.
A newspaper events calendar with the 154th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, October 3-4, 1969, with The Move (their first, and only, Michigan appearance), Teegarden & Van Winkle, and the Stooges on both nights.
Russ Gibb was feeling the pressure from having a competing (and larger) venue across town, Bob Bagaris’ Eastown Theater, now in operation for the past five months, so he looked down Grand River Avenue, two blocks away from the Grande Ballroom, at the Grand Riviera movie theater, currently presenting screenings of such film gems as “The Witchmaker – their form is human but they have crossed over…is this sex after death?”, “Matchless – as flawless as her beauty and as reckless as her body”, “Spirits of the Dead – Edgar Allan Poe’s ultimate orgy, starring Brigitte Bardot”, and “Hannibal Brooks – super soldier in a super adventure!”
Gibb and Gabe Glantz struck a deal with the movie theater owner to stage rock bands at the Riviera, redubbed as the Grande Riviera. Around the same time, Bagaris had enlisted the help of promoter Aaron Russo, who ran the Kinetic Playground, Chicago’s version of the Grande Ballroom.
There are many stories of insults and aspersions, towards and from, the interloper from the Windy City, faces slapped, groins kicked, and guns drawn, but in the end, the four of them, Gibbs, Glantz, Bagaris, and Russo, formed a partnership, co-operating on alternating out of town and local acts at the Eastown and the Grande Riviera to lessen the direct competition for audiences.
The opening weekend of the Grande Riviera, October 10-12, 1969, featured the return of The Who for the seventh time (there is some question if the Friday night show actually happened).
The poster/ad is by Al Shamie (Bad Dog), who was becoming the area’s most prominent poster artist. Also note the introduction of “the world’s first laser beam light show”.
We’re fortunate to have a recording of The Who performing “Fortune Teller” from the show on October 12, 1969.
The Who – Fortune Teller (live at the Grande Riviera 10/12/69)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjfz_t-UsA
Newspaper ads for the opening weekend of the Grande Riviera, with a “Salute to Michigan Bands” featuring SRC, Amboy Dukes and Alice Cooper on opening night, October 10, 1969. The Who headline the next two nights, with Alice Cooper and Sky on October 11th, and with the Amboy Dukes and All The Lonely People on October 12th.
We are including these shows in this narrative to document the brief Grande Riviera period but are not counting these shows in any totals.
A ticket for an after-show party following Alice Cooper’s set on Friday, October 10, 1969 at the Grande Riviera.
The opening weekend of the Grande Riviera, October 10-12, 1969 drew glowing reviews from the local Detroit press. One review noted the difference of just a week earlier when the Riviera Theater was just a movie house. Another noted that Russ Gibb intended to continue to use the Grande Ballroom for lesser-known groups, groups that wanted the more intimate atmosphere, sock hops “(when they’re in vogue again)”, and square dances.
A sweet full-page ad by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) for a benefit show at the Grande Ballroom on October 13, 1969 to raise funds for the defense of the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper against obscenity charges, featuring “two of the greatest defenders of obscenity”, poet Allen Ginsberg and the Stooges.
Poster/flyer by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) for the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper benefit show at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan on October 13, 1969 featuring poet Allen Ginsberg and the Stooges.
An unfortunately tiny image of a poster by J&S Stoddard for the benefit show for the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan on October 13, 1969, featuring poet Allen Ginsberg and the Stooges. The poster measures 16” x 21”.
The Grande Ballroom Posters - continues - HERE
