YOUNG, Neil.

Description

Killesberg Halle, Stuttgart October 1982 concert poster

Original first printing concert poster advertising Canadian/American guitarist and singer Neil Young at the Killesberg Halle in Stuttgart [Germany] on Thursday, 14th October, 1982, presented by MAMA Concerts. Young was touring in support of Trans, his twelfth studio album, released on 29th December, 1982 on Geffen Records. In 1982, Young had left Reprise Records, his record label since his debut album in 1968, to sign with Geffen Records — the label founded and owned by David Geffen, who had worked with Young as manager of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Young’s contract guaranteed him $1 million per album, as well as total creative control over his output. From late 1980 to mid-1982, Young spent much of his waking hours carrying out a therapy program for his young son, Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy and unable to speak. Neil disclosed to almost no one at the time that he was doing so, or that the repetitive nature of the songs on both the previous album, Re·ac·tor, and Trans, related to the exercises he was performing with Ben. Work on Trans began in late 1981 as a continuation of Re·ac·tor, with the usual Crazy Horse lineup. But then Young started playing with two new machines he had acquired, a Synclavier and a vocoder. Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro recalled, “Next thing we knew, Neil stripped all our music off, overdubbed all this stuff, the vocoder, weird sequencing, and put the synth shit on it.” Young’s direction was influenced by the electronic experiments of the German band Kraftwerk, but more importantly he felt that distorting his voice reflected his attempts to communicate with his son. Trans, along with Young’s next Geffen release Everybody’s Rockin’, formed the basis of a 1983 lawsuit filed against Young by Geffen on the grounds that he had produced deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work.

The poster measures 59.1 x 83.7 cm (approx. 23.3″ by 33″ inches) and is beautifully printed in red and black inks on thin, coated paper stock. Neatly folded, else in excellent unmarked condition. Feel free to email us with any questions you may have concerning this item. Additional images of the poster available on request.