About this poster

In celebration of The Doors 60th anniversary,Collectionzz is commemorating the 55th anniversary of The Doors legendary performance at Detroit's Cobo Arena with the release of an official limited edition poster and setlist trading card, illustrated by Matt Cliff!

The posters are screenprinted with split fountain inks on a silver foil, in the same way as the classic 60's and 70's posters were produced.

The May 8, 1970 show featured extended versions of Doors classics like "Light My Fire" and a mix of hits such as "Roadhouse Blues" and "When the Music's Over," along with blues covers like "Mystery Train." Jim Morrison was in top form, engaging with the audience and improvising. This legendary concert, recorded and later released as LIVE IN DETROIT is a fan favorite and showcases the raw energy that made their live shows unforgettable.

Artist Statement: Matt Cliff

I approached this design as if it is 1970 and I were asked to design a poster for The Doors. How would I have wanted to approach a project for a group like The Doors in that time period? Everything is hand drawn, fonts, frames, etc,... I wanted to lean into the mysticism of The Doors. The imagery feels true to the band, the era, and myself. I’ll break down the imagery here.

I was highly impacted by Jim’s poem during “The End” (I believe they were pulled from Ghost Song, one of their other songs) the frame includes a golden snake weaving through it. This is a nod to his line in this poem “The snake was pale gold glazed and shrunken, we were afraid to touch it.” The striped fabric in the background is pulled from another line in this poem “The sheets were hot dead prisons.” This line is so interesting that I wanted to create an abstract “barred” sheet. In the middle of the shit is an open door making way to space and time.

From the darkness of space a hand reaches through the door. This is a nod to a mantra they repeat that is something along the lines “Come with us. Trust us.” The hand is inviting the viewer into the unknown. There are hands all grasping one another making up the inside of the frame. I read an article that said that Jim, toward the end of the allotted time given to the band to perform, was laying down on the stage as people from the crowd placed their hands on him to encourage him to continue.

The hands are also a nod to my favorite song in the set “Five to One”. The line is “they’ve got the guns but we’ve got the numbers” I wanted to show the hand interlocked in solidarity. The top hand is holding a clock on both sides. This is a call back to Jim continuing to yell “wake up!” throughout the performance. The time on the left is the show start time 8:30 and the clock on the left reads 1:00. These numbers are important because this particular performance is perhaps the group’s longest performance on record.

They played an hour over their allotted time and were banned. At the bottom of the design there is an abstract version of the “Cobo Arena” that has the city name in it.