Design A Concert Tour Poster

What drew me to this photo was your nod to Grateful Dead followers (called Deadheads) in the shape of the two animal skulls in the foreground. I like the simple use of your freestyle typography with the graveyard black and white photo recalling the Dead’s number one hit ‘Touch Of Grey’. ‘The Eyes Of The World’ would be eerily grateful to see the spirit of Jerry Garcia’s, San Francisco Bay band members rise from the dead, and tour the world once more.

My brief asked for the artist’s name and ONLY the words ‘World Tour’ to appear on the poster because I wanted the strength of the photos to say everything.

Your photo is a prime example of how a picture can tell a story without superfluous wording. In your poster I can hear Robert Plant’s soft intro building up to his full-throated crescendo on ‘Stairway To Heaven’. I like the way you’ve constructed the stage set with a dry ice backdrop favoured by so many rock bands. Led Zep fans would give ‘A Whole Lotta Love’ to see the band embark on this long-overdue, comeback tour. Intentionally or not, there’s even a hint of a ‘Kashmir’ carpet below your stairs. Thank you for sticking to the brief and well done on your winning entry.

A pair of wings flying through the air is a perfect way to illustrate Paul McCartney group’s world tour. Your aerial view of clouds suggests a photo taken from an aeroplane, or more appropriately, from a ‘Jet’. Your 1970s typography is a timely reminder of the band’s chart-topping heyday and your open-winged photo is a welcoming invitation by Paul McCartney & Wings to ‘Let ‘Em In’.

Your funny Animal’s tour poster would have worked equally as well for Baha Men’s ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’. It must have taken you ages, and a lot of patience, to position the guitars between the dog’s paws. I can instantly hear the sound of guitars coming out of their electrodynamic woofers strumming away to ‘Doghouse Of The Rising Sun’. Ideally the lettering could have been larger but, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, this is a brilliantly-conceived, expertly-assembled poster. And I just love the rock poser’s, must-have-accessory in the shape of the lead singer’s guitar shades.

This is a great abstract close-up photo of a flugelhorn - the main musical instrument used by the jazz player Chuck Mangione. The strip of colour used as the background over the busy pipes, helps to emphasis the name with its drop shadow - a device that other entrants could have employed to make their posters more legible. I also appreciate how you’ve knocked back, the ‘World Tour’ wording by using semi-transparent text. ‘Feels So Good’ is the title of Mangione’s biggest hit which quite appropriately is a good description of your jazzy poster.

What better way to illustrate a heavy metal band than with a heavy metal machine. Motorbikes have always had a badass reputation with the likes of hell’s angels and their association with rock ‘n’ roll. Your use of the long-established Def Leppard logo, gives your superb ‘Pyromania’ poster a stamp of authenticity. The added swirls to the ‘World Tour’ lettering nicely echo the fire behind the flaming red Harley-Davidson. You’ve cleverly ridden in the slipstream velocity of the heavy rocker’s established image. “Why change the Leppard’s spots?” I hear you ask, when there’s absolutely no need?

I almost dismissed your poster as not-on-brief thinking it was an illustration and not a photo. But on reading your blurb, I realised you’d cleverly adapted a photo of graffiti spray-painted on a shop’s shutters. The street art is appropriate for the road grime music of Stormzy, with the skengman’s choice of weapon being a scratch turntable with speakers blasting out his hip-hop cuts. Your poster looks as if it could have been a strong contender for the rapper’s (pandemic-cancelled) ‘Heavy Is The Head’ world tour.

This is a brilliantly conceived poster that would have made my top ten, had it stuck to the brief of showing the artist’s name with ONLY the words ‘World Tour’ appearing on the poster. Nevertheless Ray Sawyer’s eyepatch making up the letter ‘O’ in Hook and his ‘Completely Hooked’ straw hat are the humorous touches that perfectly portray this, often funny American country band. Sadly, you’ve taken Dr. Hook’s ‘A Little Bit More’ lyrics too literally when what was needed, for this challenge, was a little bit less.

For ‘One Hot Minute’ I thought I was seeing double because I’d seen an earlier incarnation of this poster which sadly didn’t match the brief’. Wisely you re-entered this new, simplified version which, not only is ‘on brief’, but works much better for it. This is such a powerful image that even with the Californian band’s name appearing smaller than ‘World Tour’ one instantly knows who the poster is for. With this substituted poster you’ve manage to reach ‘Higher Ground’ and your first attempt, is now hot water ‘Under The Bridge’.