I may be a romantic fool but...

It’s funny, posters, advertising gigs, even the basic screen-printed ones which were bog standard, are now sold on eBay as memorabilia. I doubt anyone will do that in 50 years time for today’s shows. Much less today’s posters for gigs actually are works of art in themselves. And it wasn’t just on the West Coast, everywhere had artists who created posters, especially stateside. Back then, everything wasn’t always just functional. It was an opportunity to be creative and express something about the culture. 
Mind you, even those single colour screen prints for shows at the Newcastle Mayfair look exotic these days and well evoke times gone by. I never see them anymore, I don’t know if I just don’t notice them or they don’t exist but those posters printed on that vivid red/pink/green or yellow paper, were a constant part of our rock lives.
I’d like to see poster culture revived, but I suppose it was part of those early days of rock as a new creative medium. Some bands have done a good job at keeping it alive, particularly the Black Crowes and Gov’t Mule, both of whom have kept the Fillmore tradition going in that art deco style with some brilliant work. 
Festivals, though not as ubiquitous as they were 50 or more years ago do often attract decent artwork but forgive me, the photoshopped designs lack the human element of the old posters, same as with album sleeves. Somehow, photoshopped artwork seems cold and less soulful. I may be just being a romantic fool but I feel that strongly. Also you used to buy tickets from indie record shops, but less so today. And the price! I don’t know how anyone affords it. Everything seems to have the dead hand of corporatism.

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