The Who poster The Birdcage Club 18 Dec 1965

Poster – The Who poster The Birdcage Club Dec 18th 1965

The Birdcage Club in Portsmouth first opened its doors in late February 1965 at Kimbells Ballroom in Southsea. The music scene was shifting from the blues and r&b music favoured in the early sixties to soul and dance music and the club’s DJs were only too happy to cater for the new music.

The Who’s line-up of Pete Townsend, John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon made their first appearance connected with the club at a ‘For one night only’ performance. Not at The Birdcage but at the town’s Savoy Ballroom on South Parade in Southend. The venue was a large ballroom for music and public dancing. The gig took place on Sunday 11 July 1965 supported by local band The Crow.

A month later and in its own venue at Eastney, The Birdcage Club opened its doors again. Artists that graced the venue included Ike and Tina Turner, Cream, Pink Floyd, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, Steampacket with Rod Stewart, The Action, Chris Farlowe, Ben E King and The Move.

The Who performed there for the first time a week before Christmas. As the vintage Who poster reads: Saturday 18th December the pop-art, guitar smashing Who will be performing. The line-up for the night, in fact for ten of the 1965 December dates, had Vivian Prine sitting in on drums instead of Keith Moon.

This fantastic poster also advertises artists coming to The Birdcage in 1966. These include Soloman Burke, Little Stevie Wonder and The Drifters.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.