Login | Verify Account  
September 2016 Auction > Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead M.I.T. 1970 Cardboard AOR Concert Poster
Listing # 7914
Bidder or Seller? Login for your status
Go back
Go back
 IMAGE THUMBNAILS
Click on a picture to enlarge
 ITEM DESCRIPTION

 Original 1st printing 11 x 14" cardboard concert poster for the Grateful Dead appearing at Dupont Gym (M.I.T.. Armory) on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA on 5/7/1970 (there was also a free show (supporting striking students) held in Kresge Plaza the day before).

 Art by Jurewicz and Fintag, image is featured in the Art of Rock on page 407 (plate 4.232).

 Hand-pulled silkscreen (printed on thick cardboard stock) poster is in good/decent (B to B/B-) condition; a single tack hole (top center margin), a series of moisture stains and small bends hiding withing the image areas, a couple of creased/bent corners, a long horizontal crease along the top edge, a couple of slightly frayed/dog-earred corners, a 1&1/2" crack/bend in the upper right corner, a few stray surface dings and light smudges, otherwise fine.

 An EXTREMELY hard-to-find low-run regional Grateful Dead poster from a small New England college show. As mentioned previously, the Dead held a free show in the school's outdoor plaza the day before their appearance at the gym, here's the story behind that show, courtesy of mitadmissions.org;

The Grateful Dead Played MIT.

On May 6th and 7th, 1970, the Grateful Dead played at MIT. Somehow, I had missed this. Luckily, my MIT contemporary, Joel '99, dropped me an email to let me know about this glaring omission. Here's the story, as I have come to understand it:

The Grateful Dead were scheduled to play MIT's Spring Concert on Thursday, May 6th. Here's the promotional poster:

Note the Great Dome in the background. The small text at the bottom reads:

LSC Presents The Grateful Dead in concert May 7 1970
MIT Armory 8:00 p.m. $3.00 $3.50 at the door

LSC is the Lecture Series Committee, an MIT student group. The MIT Armory is now called duPont Athletic Gymnasium (W31). And yes, that really does say a ticket is just $3! (Even considering inflation, ~$16 is still quite a bargain!)

Recall that during the 1969-70 academic year, student unrest about the Vietnam War was at a peak. Just three days before the scheduled MIT Spring Concert, the Kent State massacre occurred. On the same day, according to The Tech, "Well over 1500 members of the MIT community, most of them students, voted overwhelmingly to strike 'in solidarity with the national university strike.'" The next day, the faculty met to affirm the community's desire for a strike. The ~700 professors at the faculty meeting voted (again) overwhelmingly to cancel classes.

Wednesday, May 6th was the first day of canceled classes -- the strike -- at MIT. With the Grateful Dead already in Boston, they came to MIT a day early to perform a free outdoor concert, joining in the student protest (although, cheekily, the "schedule of events" listing in that day's special issue of The Tech said: "2 pm - There will not be a free concert by the Grateful Dead today."). The band set up on the Student Center steps, with the crowd all across Kresge Oval. 

 Check out a GREAT recording of the 5/6 strike show from Kresge HERE:

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-05-06.sbd.gmb.95816.flac16 

 

BIDDING
Bidding is closed for this item.
COMMENTS       Ask the seller a question
There are no comments for this item.



This item has been viewed times.


Copyright © 2024 Concertposterauction.com. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this web page may be reproduced in any way, or by any means, without the prior written permission of Concertposterauction.com.