Jeff Beck Group – May 6‑8 1969 – Concert Poster – The Boston Tea Party

May 6, 1969

2 min read

VENUE: Boston Tea Party, Boston MA DATES: May 6‑8 and May 9‑11 1969 SECTION: Concert Poster

TITLE: Jeff Beck Group & The Nice / Poco & Family

This original poster was printed ahead of the shows to sell tickets for two separate three‑night engagements at the Boston Tea Party. The first run featured the Jeff Beck Group with The Nice from May 6‑8. The second run promoted Poco and Family from May 9‑11. The poster notes that Poco included Richie Furay and Jim Messina from Buffalo Springfield, although Furay’s name was misspelled.

Beck was touring behind his brand‑new album Beck‑Ola. His set list at this engagement closed with “Jailhouse Rock,” “Shapes of Things” and “Jeff’s Boogie,” giving Boston audiences a powerful finale.

The poster design is minimalist, typical of Boston Tea Party advertising. It uses black and yellow ink on cream stock, divided into two blocks of text with a thin yellow stripe and a circular motif at the bottom. Ticket outlets listed include Krackerjacks, George’s Folly and New Directions.

EVENT: Jeff Beck Group / The Nice and Poco / Family

ERA: 1969 Boston rock scene TONE: Minimalist and modern AUDIENCE: Boston concertgoers and collectors

NOTES:

The Boston Tea Party was Boston’s equivalent to the Fillmore and Avalon in San Francisco, the Whisky‑a‑Go‑Go in Los Angeles and the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. The original venue at 53 Berkeley Street held around 550 people, though capacity was often exceeded. It drew a cross‑section of college students, hippies, fashion models, Brahmins, bikers, local celebrities, media figures, professionals and both white and Black high school kids.

The club moved to larger quarters at 15 Lansdowne Street in July 1969, increasing capacity to around 2,000. It closed in December 1970 as rock concerts grew too large for the space.

Boston Tea Party posters were printed in extremely small quantities, intended only to advertise the shows. Most were discarded after the engagements, making surviving examples scarce and highly collectible. The venue hosted a remarkable roster of artists including Led Zeppelin, The Who, Velvet Underground, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and Jeff Beck.

WBCN‑FM, Boston’s first FM rock station, began broadcasting from a dressing room in the club in 1968. Peter Wolf of The Hallucinations was a late‑night DJ there before fronting the J. Geils Band. The Tea Party was first managed by Steve Nelson and later by Don Law, who became a major promoter in the 1970s.