The bright, captivating, and artistic posters that are often considered to be the standard concert artwork is a relatively new concept. Before event posters, especially concert posters, were meant to be saved and displayed, they were simply a means of advertising shows.
Boxing-Style Posters
Boxing posters, also known as “window cards” or “broadsides,” were often made out of cardboard boxes and hung in store windows, buildings, or telephone polls. Their only use was to promote shows for an artist, or sometimes two. These posters were simple, made from letterpress printing (the act of pressing metal letters covered in ink onto paper), and were the norm until 1965, when the first psychedelic concert poster presented by Bill Graham was created.
Art collectors look far and wide for boxing posters because they are usually hard to come by (after all, these signs were never meant to be saved). The more famous an artist or group is, the harder it will be to find posters advertising their shows; well-known bands would choose to forego printing posters in order to save money. Most famously, the Beatles had so many fans that would spread information about their performances through word of mouth, and their early concert posters are incredibly rare and difficult to come by.
