In general, concert tickets are not attractively designed. These days people show up at the gate with a computer printout as evidence of admission purchased online, or more often just hold up their phone to display a code. When there are physical tickets involved, they tend to be nothing more than a faded Ticketmaster logo with the show details in grey, all-caps print. And that’s just in the case of mainstream traveling artists.
When it comes to shows featuring local bands, there often are no tickets involved at all. Admission is frequently free or it’s a cash-at-the-door affair. But there are a few occasions where tickets to local shows get arty.
Below are six examples from my personal heap of memorabilia. Perhaps this post will expand to include more if I unearth other treasures or people start uploading more to the comments or emailing them to me. If not, let this tiny sampling stand as Duluth’s evidence that tickets with clever graphic design do exist.
And yeah, yeah, the one for a roast isn’t a “concert ticket,” but it’s music-scene adjacent.
