Concert T-shirt

Tour locations listed across the back of a T-shirt for The Police's 2007/08 world tour

A concert T-shirt is a T-shirt that is associated with a concert or a concert tour, often for a pop, rock or metal band. Bands and musical groups often promote themselves by creating and selling or giving away T-shirts at their shows, tours, and events. A concert T-shirt typically contains silk screened graphics of the name, logo, or image of a musical performer or group. One popular choice of graphics on the rear of the T-shirts is a listing of information about the band's current tour, including tour cities (sometimes specifying venues) and corresponding dates.^[1] In the 1960s, printed T-shirts gained popularity for self-expression as well for advertisements, protests, and souvenirs.^[2] In 1968, rock producer Bill Graham co-founded Winterland Productions, credited as "the first concert T-shirt manufacturing company".^[3]

Several people wearing black concert T-shirts at a concert

One of the most popular colors for concert T-shirts is a flat black.^[4][5] Fans often purchase or obtain these shirts to wear to future concerts.

Wearing a concert T-shirt is a cultural signifier, with commentators identifying various reasons behind the choice to wear a particular one. For example, attending a band's concert while wearing a T-shirt from one of the band's tours long ago can give the wearer a certain prestige amongst other fans, it being indicative of the longevity of their support for the group.^[6]

See also

• Heavy metal fashion
• Punk fashion
• Grunge

References

1. "Wichita Breaking News, Sports & Crime | The Wichita Eagle". www.kansas.com. Archived from the original on 2006-12-01. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
2. "History of the T-shirt. | Tee Fetch". Tee Fetch. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
3. Alec Foege, Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio (2009), p. 172.
4. "Touring bands soaked up the cost of their lights and lasers with extensive merchandising, like tour programs, scarves, and the ever-present official black concert T-shirts with tour dates printed on the back," Ian Christe, Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal (Harper Collins, 2003), p71.The black concert T-shirt is a fashion trend of rock concert attendees originating in the 1970s^{[citation needed]} and continuing today.
5. Deena Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture, (Da Capo Press, 2000) p. 139.
6. Fonarow, Wendy (2010-10-04). "Ask the indie professor: What does your gig T-shirt say about you?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-18.