Tour Diary: 11.13.26

I want to pull back the curtain a bit on the design process for this one. I was given a razor-thin turnaround time, and my first sketch was rejected, leading to a cold-sweats-and-12-cups-of-coffee kind of day as I scrambled to come up with a different image.

I knew the band was celebrating 30 years of the Mellon Collie record, and I initially envisioned a sort of luna moth night-goddess figure with big, baleful eyes set against a clouded sky. In some ways, the character in the sketch symbolized D'arcy. What I eventually realized was that my impression of Mellon Collie didn't quite match the band's vision for this tour. I view that record as a whimsical, celestial fairy tale—a piece of art filled with grand pianos and swirling strings. But what I came to understand was that the band wanted something much darker. More of a "Rome is burning" kind of gothic affair. Perhaps spiritual, but also a little scary?

I really had to take a beat and think about how I would represent that. Then, while I was at the grocery store in search of more strong coffee, a solution presented itself. I saw a woman with an exquisitely detailed seraphim tattooed across her back, and something about that image felt right as the centerpiece for the poster. I know Billy has been talking more about his spirituality in podcasts, and suddenly all the pieces started falling into place in my mind. I envisioned rose-window corner pieces, rats running in an endless wheel, and the crisscrossing wings of the seraphim covering the eyes and mouths of the moons.

Please allow roughly 2 weeks for shipping. It's just Kristie and me packing and it sometimes takes us a minute. We always pack them with love for you all. Cheers.