If I’ve learned anything from music/concert posters, it’s that many of them rarely seem to have anything to do with the actual music or style of the band. It seems people go more for a poster that actually calls attention to it for its own design elements.

I may be in the minority in thinking I’d rather have a poster that makes it easy to identify with what the band does beyond just having something and slapping a logo on it, but that’s me. I’ve seen some great posters that incorporate things like a lyric from a band’s song or something else along those lines, but there are also very random posters that end up popular.

Here are some examples from 311’s latest tour. The majority of these don’t really make me think of 311 at all, though the one for Omaha is a very good representation of the band as it was a “Grassroots” festival and Grassroots was the name of their second album. They also played the whole thing there. Maybe it’s no surprise that one has been the most popular amongst the voters on that site. Columbus also fits them, since they’ve done a song called “Hive.” Anything that incorporates weed generally fits 311 too, but for me it’s an overdone element.

You might also take a look at what Munk One does just as a point of reference for some of this. That artist is, from what I understand, VERY popular as far as concert posters go. http://www.munkone.com/

Oops, here’s the other link: http://311posters.com/vote/

As for the posters here, in spite of what I said already I think the first one does stand out more. It has something that draws the eye, catches your attention, and I’d probably look at it a second time if it was randomly posted somewhere. It has something that stands out, which the second one honestly doesn’t to me even if it may fit more for the music (which I wouldn’t know up front).

If a poster can incorporate something related to the band AND stand out, all the better.

The Pearl Jam series are interesting in that _none_ of them make me think of the band, but _most_ of them make me think of the _locale_. That’s something to think about – it makes an immediate connection to the people who are actually going to go to the show/concert/festival whatever.

Less to do with the band and more to do with the audience.

311’s seem to be more about the particular image and again not so much to do with the band. (And I agree about the weed imagery. One of the things I’m hoping about legalisation is that it will end the antique fetishisation that is weed culture.)

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Going back to Munk One for a moment, one thing I’ve noticed is for some things he’ll follow certain themes over a few different posters, and in other cases he does include elements of the area the band is playing in. Two examples are Red Rocks in Colorado and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

There’s another concert poster artist I saw not too long ago who also did something 311-related, and I was told his stuff is in very high demand as well. Apparently whenever he does a poster, it goes fast and is often resold for as much as $200-300 or more depending on band/rarity/etc. It’s Chuck Sperry: http://chucksperry.net/

This link might be very interesting in terms of how a poster collaboration came about, including various images of the process and explanations of why various elements were chosen: http://f4dstudios.com/blog/maxx242-and-munk-one-311-denver-colab-poster-inspiration/

Okay, so I looked up Chuck Sperry on eBay and some posters have sold for $2,000 or more. Damn! Many of them look like limited variants, though.

Here was a comment from somebody a few months back, talking about 311 Day posters from 2012 and this year:

“the 2012 posters each had 1000 in the standard run, and then there were artists varients. I agree that the 2 lions back to back with the all-seeing-eye in the center is one of the best 311 posters ever. That poster was designed and printed by The Silent Giants. Silent Giants do a lot of the design for The White Stripes, Avett Brothers and Flight of the Conchords. 2014 were each run in lots of 400, with the Munk One having a silver foil varient of 113 copies available at the Fan Party. BOTH the Munk One and Sperry posters had artist’s proofs available afterwards: Munk One printed 40 on Blue Foil and 40 on White Card Stock and both of those runs were signed and numbered. I think Sperry had 3 different artist’s proofs; Cream colered paper limited to 60, and then Gold Foil limited to only 12 and Wavy Platinum Foil limited to only 12. All of Sperry’s AP’s are signed and numbered. Sperry’s posters for Widespread panic are some of the most valuable recent concert posters in the world, often trading for THOUSANDS of dollars. I have a friend that is a huge Panic fan, and when he heard that I went to 311 day he told me I was an idiot for not buying the Sperry poster. Dude couldn’t name a single 311 song, but he knew that Sperry drew that poster. The Sperry posters on Gold and Wavy Foil are going to end up being the most expensive of the bunch I bet. ”

So there you go, even if this is getting off the main topic a bit.

While the red is much more assertive and eye-catching, it doesn’t seem to mesh as well with the rest of the picture (the portraits). The owl (while much more appropriate thematically [pictorially and musically]) seems to blend in with the coloration of the walkway motif. The reds in the walkway also dull the color of Dara’s hair.

The graphic/poster is best when it’s both eye-catching and resonates with the music of the performers. Barring that, going for eye-catching and not thematically-clashing with the performance (example: red face with piano recital) would seem to be the way to go, because if nothing else people notice it. Even if the people who attend don’t love it, they might know someone who does and pass along the word, passers-by might also notice the crowd and the music and wonder what’s going on.

The poster is the first bits of knowledge that someone may have about the concert, and the music that it promises. If there was stark difference between what the poster promised and what was played it could be jarring, even if I liked the music. If I didn’t like the music, the response would tend to be more negative because I’d have felt cheated or lied to by the advertising.

If I already knew the musicians, I would be curious and confused if the art style clashed with what I knew of their work. (Unless the art was in a style that the musicians/festival/venue had already established. Or, if the clashing seemed deliberate.)

I think another thing that’s important to keep in mind as we talk about this is the purpose of Dara’s poster vs. the stuff I’ve been talking about.

Dara’s is intended to advertise a show, while my examples are sold at the shows to fans. They don’t necessarily HAVE to focus on the same things, but for purposes of advertising I’d err on the side of something that grabs attention first. If it can also include something that makes you think of whoever’s playing, all the better.