Fake posters

The web seems to be awash with fake Deep Purple posters at the moment.  The price of genuine posters appears to be rising all the time and these ersatz posters may be a reaction to that.  And indeed the selling price of these fakes ought to be one good indicator of their lack of pedigree.  However, unless the seller is being open and honest about what exactly these posters are (some do, but there is no guarantee future sellers of the same item will), there is the chance of being stung.  We’ve already looked at some dodgy autographs floating around out there, time now to check some of these gig posters out.
Things to watch out for are the size, nearly all these posters are the typically American gig poster size of around A2, or 420 by 600cms. This poster size was almost never used outside America, so when you see A2 posters purporting to be for The 1969 Albert Hall Concerto, something has to be wrong. Another giveaway is the full colour images on the posters, again something rarely seen in originals. Beyond that the use of computers to do the typesetting and other effects, equipment which nobody had at the time, is the clincher, though it might take someone in the graphic industry to spot this.
Most of the designs simply copy a vintage adverts from a book or CD booklet, adding a photo of the band.  A few are actually quite nicely designed, paying homage to the old San Fancisco psych art of the sixties, and seem to be coming from aspiring designers keen to show what they can do. The irony now is that some of this material is being reproduced on official merchandise, and it can only be a matter of time before some start turning up in books and the like.
Anyhow, here is a selection (though by no means all), some of these dating from around 2003, others much more recent. I’ve left the watermarks on where these appear on the adverts. If you see anything you are not sure of, feel free to drop us a line. Material from the DTB black museum, with help from Vincent Chong and Tonny Steenhagen.

Nobody had the ability to ‘stretch’ photos like this back in 1974, and the lettering is all wrong for the time too.

Nobody had ‘outer glow’ filters (as applied to this design) back in 1971. Nobody had personal computers full stop!

This one uses cover art from an American songbook, which was first published after the Concerto took place.

Deep Purple on their first American tour, in 1974?! They never supported Aerosmith back then either as far as we know.

This seems to borrow imagery from a psych poster book and apply it to the UK Concerto debut. The actual poster was much less eye-catching.

Another ersatz effort with clunky typography and a curious lack of ticket or promoter information.

Overly elaborate swirling effects, computer clip art corners and more shout fake.

Another fake poster which looks more 1992 than 1972.

The gig happened, the poster didn’t! Pictures lifted off the web and every psych filter in photoshop overlaid.