1966 Otis Redding, Grateful Dead Fillmore Concert Poster
 
Poster 
San Francisco 
December 20-22, 1966 
22 5/8" x 14" 
 
This first-printing San Francisco concert poster features Otis Redding, who performed three mid-week shows at the Fillmore Auditorium from December 20-22, 1966. The Grateful Dead opened for Redding on Tuesday night, making this a remarkable double-legend poster. At the time, Redding's single with Stax/Volt, “Try a Little Tenderness,” was a Top 5 R&B hit, which would electrify audiences at the Monterey Pop Festival the following summer. Designed by Wes Wilson and designated as BG-43 in the Bill Graham numbered series, this poster has been graded an impressive 9.8 Near Mint/Mint by the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC). 
 
Otis Redding was the talk of the underground scene and enjoyed considerable respect among San Francisco musicians, just six months prior to his breakthrough performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Given that these were mid-week shows, many local musicians, including Janis Joplin, were present, captivated by his every move. Tragically, Redding's life would be cut short just a year later in December 1967.
 
According to Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip (DK Publishing, 2003, co-authored by Dennis McNally), “Otis Redding wouldn’t achieve significant pop success until Monterey Pop, but to those in the know, he was the man. Bill Graham booked him for three nights at the insistence of various Fillmore patrons, including the Dead and Janis Joplin.”
 
Another notable aspect of this event for Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead was that the day before their performance opening for Redding, they received their first major national press exposure. Newsweek magazine, once a prominent media force, praised the band, noting they were second in popularity in San Francisco only to the Jefferson Airplane. The article described the band as "blues-oriented and so far unrecorded," highlighting their distinctive sound as "pure San Francisco." While this may seem modest in retrospect, it was significant exposure for the group given Newsweek's influence.
 
On Wednesday night, Johnny Talbot and De Thangs, a local R&B institution, took the stage. They were known for their performances at the Fillmore when it was still a venue for Black music, booked by Charles Sullivan before Bill Graham's tenure. Talbot had opened for numerous iconic artists during this period, including the Dead, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, the Four Tops, and Martha & the Vandellas, and appeared as an opening act on many San Francisco concert posters, most recently on BG-26 and the upcoming BG-55.
On Thursday night, the opening act was Berkeley's Country Joe & the Fish, featuring Joe McDonald. December 1966 was a pivotal month for the band, as they had just signed with Vanguard Records. Prior to this, they had not released any singles or albums through a record label, although they had produced two self-released EPs on McDonald's Rag Baby label: the primitive, acoustic "Talking Issue #1 (Songs of Opposition)" from 1965, and the more commercial, electrified "Country Joe and the Fish," which included the popular track "Section 43."