Bob Dylan 1963 - 1966 Boxing Style Concert Posters

Bob Dylan grew up on the Iron Range in Minnesota. He enrolled at the University of Minnesota and dropped out in 1961 to move to New York City to become a folk musician. Dylan, inspired by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, played folk music in coffee shops across the city. He wrote many songs about a country in turmoil since the U.S. experienced the Civil Rights Movement, the Cuban Missile Crisis, John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the beginning of the Vietnam War. Many leading recording artists covered his "Blowin' In the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" songs, and Dylan's fame grew. Many called him the troubadour of a generation and loved his acoustic style folk music. Dylan shocked his fan base by going electric in the summer of 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival. By late 1965, Dylan was at the top of his career by recording two albums that year: "Bringing It All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited." The latter is considered some of his best work, and its first song, "Like a Rolling Stone", was revolutionary with its combination of electric guitar licks and organ chords. It was one of the top songs of that year.

Bob Dylan Town Hall Concert Poster

Bob Dylan Town Hall Concert Poster

Between 1963 and 1966, Dylan toured extensively. Since he started in New York City, it makes sense that Murray Printing created many of Dylan's concert posters. The first poster Murray printed was for the 1963 Dylan Newark Mosque Theater show. The layout is unique because it incorporated newspaper and magazine quotes to hype the Dylan concert. Moe Septee, the Newark concert promoter, borrowed this technique from Harold Leventhal, who used quotes in the poster for Dylan's first big gig at the TownHall in New York in April 1963. Many Dylan concert posters feature a photograph taken by Dan Kramer, a New York-based photographer and film director.

Bob Dylan Mosque Theater Concert Poster

Bob Dylan Mosque Theater Concert Poster

The 1965 tour blank printed by Murray is a classic boxing-style concert poster. The 14 x 22-inch poster was printed on heavy cardboard and featured a Kramer stage show photo of Dylan. The Dylan management sent about 200 posters to each local promoter who had the date, venue information, and ticket prices added on the blanks in black, red, or blue ink. The placard depicts Dylan in an acoustic setting, but he would play a solo acoustic set in the first half. For the second set, Dylan went electric with The Hawks joining him on the stage. The Hawks later became the Band.

Dylan Vets Memorial Concert Poster

Dylan Vets Memorial Concert Poster

The following concerts used the Murray tour blank.

  • Forest Hills Stadium, New York, August 28

  • Hollywood Bowl, September 3

  • Austin Municipal Auditorium, September 24

  • Southern Methodist University Coliseum, Dallas, September 25

  • Carnegie Hall, New York, October 1

  • Symphony Hall, Newark, New Jersey, October 2

  • Atlanta City Auditorium, October 9

  • Baltimore Civic Center, October 17

  • McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey, October 23

  • Worcester Memorial Auditorium, Massachusetts, October 16

  • Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, October 22

  • University of Vermont, Burlington, October 23

  • Cobo Hall, Detroit, October 24

  • Back Bay Theater, Boston. October 29

  • Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, Connecticut, October 30

  • Back Bay Theater, Boston, October 31

  • Minneapolis Auditorium, November 5

  • Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, November 6

  • Cleveland Music Hall, November 12

  • Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, November 14-15

  • Cincinnati Music Hall, November 18

  • Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio, November 19

  • Rochester, NY, November 20

  • War Memorial Auditorium, Syracuse, November 21

  • University of Washington, Seattle, December 1

  • Berkeley Community Theater, California, Dec. 3 and 4

  • Long Beach Civic Auditorium, December 7

  • Community Concourse Theatre, San Diego, December 10

  • Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, December 11

  • San Jose Civic Auditorium, December 12

  • Pasadena Civic Auditorium, December 18

  • Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, CA, December 19

If you have an original Bob Dylan 1963-1966 boxing-style concert poster, we offer a $6,000 reward for each concert poster. Any condition accepted because of the large amount of black in the layout shows bends, tears, holes, and fingerprints. Please email a picture to rareboard@aol.com.

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Andrew Hawley