Grateful Dead “Memorial” 1968 Carousel Ballroom Concert Handbill
San Francisco, 1968
11 x 7inches
 
An original first-printing handbill announcing the Grateful Dead, Charlie Musselwhite and Petris at San Francisco’s Carousel Ballroom over Memorial Day weekend, May 30–June 1, 1968. The striking design by Alton Kelley, with its field of skulls set against radiating color, is among the most memorable images of the psychedelic concert era. The imagery takes on particular resonance in the context of 1968, when the Vietnam War and its mounting death toll were central to the national consciousness. 
 
This example is the scarcer first-printing version with the original date information unaltered, and is graded 8.0 Very Fine by CGC. The Carousel Ballroom operated for only a brief period in 1968, making its concert material especially desirable to collectors of Grateful Dead and San Francisco psychedelic ephemera. 
 
Condition: CGC 8.0 Very Fine.