Last week, as part of his warm-up for the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Show, Paul McCartney played three small gigs (across three nights) at the relatively humble Bowery Ballroom in New York. It has a capacity of just 575 people, and tickets (at US$50.00 each) sold out immediately they went on sale – only if you showed up in person at the Bowery Ballroom’s box office.

The online announcements for each show were simple. Here’s the first:

🗽 PAUL McCARTNEY ROCKS THE BOWERY 🗽
Tuesday, February 11th. Bowery Ballroom, New York.

5:00pm Doors
6:30pm Showtime

Tickets on sale now only at Bowery Ballroom box office. No tickets sold online.
First come, first served. One ticket per person.

These intimate shows quickly became an event in themselves, taking even a place like New York City by storm:

After the concerts, reviewers swooned too. Variety was effusive:

Paul McCartney Electrifies New York’s 575-Capacity Bowery Ballroom With Career-Spanning Surprise Set

Even the tragically hip and usually cynical, hard-to-please Pitchfork Magazine was besotted:

Paul McCartney’s Magical Mystery Bowery Ballroom Show

Understandable really because who wouldn’t want to be at an intimate venue to see and hear Paul McCartney and his band play, up close and personal?

Anyways, apart from all the above, one thing that really resonated with fans on social media and in the forums was the amazing poster that was produced to help promote the event.

Lots of comments began to appear, praising the artwork and asking if it was for sale. Also, who was the artist who’d created it?

This poster was resonating with people because it encapsulates so well a journey in three distinct phases – starting with a young Paul McCartney in the middle and blossoming out to a recognisable profile image of the legend and man we see before us today.

But then again, it also radiates inwards as well: from the clouds and the universe on the outside profile, into the New York skyline and the Big Apple at the centre. How brilliant.

Well, it turns out the artist is an Argentinian named Santi Pozzi.

Pozzi is a graphic designer, art director, illustrator and screen printer from Buenos Aires. He graduated in Graphic Design at the University of Buenos Aires, and learned screen printing technique at The Firehouse Kustom Rockart Co. in Oakland, California. He later introduced gig poster art to Argentina and South America by putting together his own screen printing studio, Imprenta Chimango. He’s designed and printed official posters for Pearl Jam, Tame Impala, Jack White, Queens of the Stoneage, Primus and many others.

Check out Pozzi’s Instagram feed for more examples of his work.

From this fan photo of the merch stand at the Bowery Ballroom last week, it looks like the poster and a tote bag bearing Pozzi’s design were briefly available for sale:

But, will the poster be more widely available?

Yes it will.

While it’s not presently for sale via the official McCartney store websites, you can get Pozzi’s poster in artist proof quality from a company called Collectionzz, which specialises in official concert posters.

And just to cap it off, here’s a cool animated version of the poster that Collectionzz has produced for Instagram.