Blue Cheer / Captain Beefheart / The Youngbloods (night 3)
FD-73 · Tom Glass
San Francisco
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
The Youngbloods
Saturday, July 29, 1967 was night three of Blue Cheer, Captain Beefheart and the Youngbloods at the Avalon, on FD-73.
Blue Cheer are the reason this bill matters more in hindsight than it did at the time. The San Francisco trio's version of "Summertime Blues," recorded later that year, is routinely named as one of the first heavy metal records — three musicians playing at a volume the equipment could barely carry, in a scene that generally prized intricacy over force. Captain Beefheart, second-billed, was a year from *Safe as Milk* and still a Southern California blues singer with an extraordinary voice rather than the avant-garde figure he became. The Youngbloods had moved west from New York and were turning into a California band.
The poster was designed by Tom Glass, working as Ned Lamont, and printed only once — no reprints, which is unusual in a series where popular sheets ran to three or four printings. It measures roughly 12 by 21 inches, noticeably narrower than the Family Dog standard, on white index stock, with the three postcard varieties the Avalon used: an ordinary stamp reverse, a bulk rate permit, and a bulk rate card mechanically addressed to the Family Dog's subscriber list.
A cataloguing note this chronicle has now made three times, because it keeps propagating: FD-73 belongs to this late-July run. Some Family Dog indexes misfile it against the last weekend of August; that weekend's Avalon sheet is FD-77.
Verification Notes
ANTAGONIST-CHECKED. 1967-07-29=Saturday, FD-73 night 3 (Tom Glass). Secondary. COAU Family Dog index (Hannan/Arnold): FD-73 run, July 27-30 1967. Night 3. DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (pass 5). Bill per COAU Family Dog index (Hannan/Arnold): 'July 27-30, 1967 / Avalon Ballroom / Blue Cheer, Captain Beefheart, Youngbloods / FD-73'. Night 3. Designer 'Tom Glass aka Ned Lamont', single printing, dimensions and the three postcard varieties from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03) — whose product URL (/family-dog/blue-cheer/poster/avalon-ballroom-7-27-30-67) is a THIRD independent confirmation of the date against the misfile.
Were You There?
Do you have memories of this show, or an original FD-73 poster? On This Day in Art Rock History celebrates the people who lived through the psychedelic era. Your stories and collections matter to this archive.
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