In the past few years, many of the world's greatest musicians have been looking back and celebrating their long, extraordinary careers through "Greatest Hits", "Farewell", and "Anniversary" concert tours. Many aspects of these tours (such as setlists and on-stage visuals) attempt to capture and summarize the artist's entire history. Concert posters are often no exception. A prime example of this are the posters designed by Adam Pobiak for Eric Clapton's 2017 concert tour: "A Celebration of 50 Years of Music". In just three posters (one for each stop on the tour), Pobiak needed to sum up the 50-year career of one of the most influential guitarists of all time. He did so perfectly, by showcasing the guitars that have come to represent Clapton's history and music.

The Eric Clapton Guitars

The posters are 24 x 36 inches. Each one features an iconic Clapton guitar presented in actual 1 to 1 scale. All the chips and scratches on the real guitars are thoroughly recreated on the posters to definitively illustrate that these are Clapton's instruments and cement the personal connection to him.

The guitars chosen for the posters were Clapton's Fender Stratocaster (nicknamed "Blackie"), his Gibson ES-335, and Martin 00-21. Each has ties to many significant moments from throughout Clapton's career, and were ideal choices for these posters.

New York City - Fender Stratocaster

Featured on the New York City poster is Clapton's black Fender Stratocaster, "Blackie". Clapton recorded many of his biggest hits with this guitar - including "Cocaine", "Lay Down Sally", and "I Shot The Sheriff". He also performed live with it from 1973 until 1985, and used it at several well-known shows - such as the Rainbow Concert and Live Aid. In 2004 it was auctioned off to Guitar Center and displayed in their New York City store on West 44th Street.

London - Gibson ES-335

On the London poster is Clapton's Cherry Red Gibson ES-335. This was his "Cream guitar". He used it during many of the band's pivotal moments. These include the recording of their "Goodbye" album and their final farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1968. He would continue to play this guitar during his time in Blind Faith and beyond.

Los Angeles - Martin acoustic

The Los Angeles poster has a much different feel from the other two, as it showcases one of Clapton's Martin acoustic guitars. Clapton has a long history with Martin guitars. He played one during his "Unplugged" concert album in 1992, which is famous for its live version  of "Layla".  In the years since, Martin has released numerous Eric Clapton signature guitar models.

Other Details

Besides the famous guitars, Pobiak put other Clapton references on the posters as well. My favorite detail is the inclusion of Clapton's various band names in the circles next to the guitars. The Yardbirds, Cream, Delaney and Bonnie, Blind Faith, Bluesbreakers, and Derek and the Dominos are all explicitly named and represented on these posters. This drives home the idea that this tour was a celebration of Clapton's whole constantly evolving career.

For another great aesthetic touch, the posters were beautifully printed on gold metallic paper stock and each one was  numbered and signed by Pobiak in gold ink. 900 copies of the New York poster were printed. The London and Los Angeles designs were limited to 500 and 600, respectively.

The New York and London posters were sold at the venues. But, it is interesting to note that the concert dates on the Los Angeles poster never actually happened. Days after playing the New York shows, Clapton became ill with severe bronchitis and postponed the LA dates to September. A completely different poster was designed and sold for these rescheduled dates. However, the original LA design had already been available at the New York shows.

The attention to detail and history that Pobiak put into these posters is appreciated by die-hard Eric Clapton fans. However, anyone can still love how great the designs look. I personally attended the New York show, and the poster is by far one of my all-time favorites.

To see more of Pobiak's work, visit  http://pobiak.com/

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