Live Stiffs Tour Poster Set

The complete five-poster set produced as merchandise for the first Live Stiffs Tour, which ran from early October to early November 1977 — Stiff Records' package outing featuring Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and Larry Wallis. The set was designed by Barney Bubbles and photographed by Chris Gabrin, both then affiliated with Stiff, and was conceived and self-financed by the two of them rather than commissioned by the label. Sold at venue merchandise tables for £1 each — a substantial price for a student audience in 1977 — the posters barely sold during the tour itself; most of the unsold inventory was discarded or pulped at its conclusion. Single posters of Elvis Costello and Ian Dury, both of whom were already commercially ascendant by late 1977, survived in greater numbers than the others. Complete sets of all five are scarce.

LITERATURE:

Four of the five posters illustrated in Krivine, Andrew. Reversing Into The Future: New Wave Graphics 1977–1990. London: Pavilion Books, 2021, p. 262

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection