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There were actually two Miami Pop Festivals held in 1968, one in May and the other in December, however the first one in May acted an important link between the two most famous Music and Pop Festivals of the Sixties – Monterey and Woodstock. What was the connection between the two? Well, several as it turns out. Miami Pop was the first rock festival to be held on the East Coast and was organized by none other than Michael Lang, who in just little over a year would organize the most famous concert and festival of the entire Sixties – Woodstock. In addition, all three festivals would be more or less defined and remembered by the performance of one standout musician, Jimi Hendrix, who played all three major festivals.
Strangely enough, Miami does not get that much attention, but it really did set the stage for mega-sized music festivals to follow, with Michael Lang being the visionary of what could really happen with the music that was spreading like wildfire among what many now call the Woodstock Generation!
Michael Lang had just relocated from New York to Coconut Grove, Florida, which was one of the few places in the conservative state of Florida that resembled an artist/hippie community. Michael opened what is believed to be the first “head-shop” in the state and started to organize local community events to promote his store. Given Florida in 1968 would become more famous for holding the Republican National Convention and electing Richard Nixon as the Presidential nominee and Miami later issuing an arrest warrant for Jim Morrison for his concert performance, it was a bit of an anomaly that Miami would be a launching point for the pop culture generation on the East Coast, but nonetheless, the Miami Pop set the stage for large East Coast Concerts to follow.
Another interesting and memorable fact is: most Jimi Hendrix fans and followers consider Jimi’s performance at Miami Pop to be his best live performance of his career – even better than Monterey and Woodstock. Now that has to be one great performance! Recently American Profiles aired on public television a documentary on Jimi Hendrix that includes some great footage of his performance at Miami Pop and it is easy to see why his performance there is, if not the best, certainly one of the best of his short, but amazing career as one of the world’s greatest musicians.
Now about the poster! The poster(s), as were two obtained at the time, along with photos of Jimi at the concert and a matching handbill came from an attendee of the concert where he carefully pulled them down at the event and preserved them in pristine condition for the last 40+ years, before going to the Vintage Concert Posters Collection. There are some really great Jimi Hendrix Concert Posters from the Sixties, but I consider this to be one to be one of the very elite – certainly in the top 5 best Jimi posters of the Sixties! The design and colors are not only captivating and beautiful, but also display a unique psychedelic and art nouveau style with their free flowing and artful lines and image – a real eye-catcher and knockout of a vintage concert poster!
Finally, there were actually three very beautiful posters created for this event, a rarity for one concert, the other design which is also a knockout, is displayed in the “What’s New for 2012” gallery – check it out.
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