On This Day in Art Rock History

A DAILY CHRONICLE

SAN FRANCISCO · THE PSYCHEDELIC ERA · 1960s

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13th Floor Elevators (billed) / Great Society (BG-25)

BG-25 · August 26, 1966
BG-25

BG-25 · Wes Wilson

Catalog Number
BG-25
Series
Bill Graham
Venue
Fillmore Auditorium
San Francisco
Date
August 26, 1966
Poster Artists
Nickname
13th Floor Elevators (billed) / Great Society (BG-25)
Performers
The Great Society
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Sopwith Camel

The BG-25 poster is one of the great might-have-beens of the Fillmore. On Friday, August 26, 1966 (a two-night run, Aug 26-27), Bill Graham's card - Wes Wilson's lettering wrapped around Herb Greene's photograph of Grace Slick - advertised the 13th Floor Elevators at the top, over the Great Society and the Sopwith Camel (poster, artist, photo credit, and bill per wolfgangs' BG-25 page). The Elevators, the Texas acid-rock band whose "You're Gonna Miss Me" was already a garage classic, never made it: they were contractually blocked from performing, and Quicksilver Messenger Service filled in (the substitution per the San Francisco Sound history / Corry Arnold). The irony is doubled by the poster's own image - Grace Slick, photographed by Greene, fronting the Great Society, the band she was weeks from leaving to join Jefferson Airplane. So the great Wes Wilson / Herb Greene poster advertises a headliner who didn't play and pictures a singer about to quit the band beneath her. (The printed headliner is the Elevators, not QMS; the substitution, not the poster's face, is the night's real story. COAU lists Aug 26 with QMS and the Great Society and omits the Sopwith Camel and the second night - the poster and catalog carry all three acts across Aug 26-27.)

Verification Notes

Antagonist (2026-08-17 headless run): corroborated via check-claims on vetted tiers + adversarial live reads (wolfgangs/gdao/dead.net/setlist.fm/billgrahamfoundation/COAU-latest + Corry Arnold blogs). Printed headliner = 13th Floor Elevators (contractually BLOCKED); QMS substituted. 3-act bill w/ Sopwith Camel; Aug 26-27. Wes Wilson lettering, Herb Greene photo of Grace Slick. wolfgangs BG-25. [DEMOTED TO SECONDARY 2026-09-01: this catalog also heroed another day in the same stretch, which violates one-poster-one-hero. The event and its narrative are unchanged — only the featured flag moved. See the day's new hero for the replacement.]

Were You There?

Do you have memories of this show, or an original BG-25 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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