Concert poster collector Scott Mussell is searching for an example of this Black Sabbath poster from the bands Baltimore, MD concert in Owings Mills, MD at Painters Mills Music Fair on May 7, 1971. “The art on these Painters Mills posters is always pretty cool and this Sabbath poster doesn’t disappoint.” Mussell says. The Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, MD was a fortunate place at the dawn of the 1970s for area rockers. A rag-tag group of hippies, under the moniker Tree Frog Productions, took a trust fund and turned it into 16 month string of parties promoting gigs at Painter’s Mill Music Fair. The venue was constructed for theatrical plays featuring a revolving stage for concerts in the round. Sabbath, the Birmingham, England heavy metal pioneers came to the merry-go-round venue while touring the US in support of their second album ‘Paranoid’ with openers Fleetwood Mac, who had recently been rejoined with guitarist Peter Green. “The show was a bit of a mess” Mussell explains adding “It sold out early and several hundred people who wanted in nearly caused a riot at the gate. They were eventually let in but there were some injuries.” According to newspaper reports from the time three employees Tree Frog Promotion, were taken to the hospital with cuts and bruises suffered during the melee at the gate. Despite the frenzy Sabbath brought the hammer out for the Ownings Mills crowd and the gate crashers were well behaved once the show started enjoying a set that included bangers “War Pigs, Iron Man, Into the Void” and “Fairies Wear Boots.”
“Several venues in the area from Columbia, MD to Washington DC had abandoned rock shows by this point due to similar dangerous gate crashing situations but the Tree Frog group keep going making the Baltimore area venue one of the last bastions of rock ’n’ roll for Mid Atlantic rockers in the early ‘70s” says Mussell. “This poster appeals to me because of the terrific art and because at least some of them were printed on cardboard making surviving examples a little tougher to find” Mussell notes, adding “I’d be a buyer at $2000 for an example for my collection.” If you have an example of this 1971 Black Sabbath poster or any other early 1970s Black Sabbath concert poster Mussell wants to hear from you. Contact him at srmussell@me.com or 515-707-7250 anytime.