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Offered Here: KISS 1975 Lot of 5 Very Rare BW Contact Sheets & Partial Negatives of KISS at Cadillac High School
Item Details: Secure an unparalleled behind-the-scenes look at rock history with this extraordinarily rare lot of five original black-and-white contact sheets and 31 partial negative frames with transfer rights, capturing the band's historic visit to Cadillac, MI, on October 9–10, 1975. Sourced directly from the private collection of acclaimed rock photographer Waring Abbott, these working archive documents display a total of 176 photographic frames, accompanied by a limited selection of 31 cut, partial negatives (no whole sheets included). Reflecting their authentic use in production, the contact sheets remain in good condition and bear the hallmarks of working studio items, including handwritten notes, folds, punched holes, cuts, and expected edge and corner wear, along with common signs of age and storage.
Provenance / Authenticity: The items in this lot are sourced directly from the personal archives of renowned photojournalist Waring Abbott. Abbott’s iconic imagery has graced the pages of Time, Newsweek, People, Rolling Stone, and countless foreign publications, alongside legendary album covers and photo spreads for KISS, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, and Bob Dylan and others.
In October 1975, KISS visited Cadillac, Michigan, after the Cadillac High School football team, which had been losing, adopted the band's music as a motivational tool and turned its season around, prompting the town to invite the group for its homecoming celebrations. The visit included a parade and a performance in the school gymnasium, an unusual meeting of a small Midwestern community and a hard rock band whose makeup and theatrics were often criticized by parents and civic leaders of the era. The event came the same autumn as the release of Alive!, the album that gave KISS its commercial breakthrough, and it remains one of the most remembered episodes in the band's early relationship with its fans.
Condition: Good with handwritten notes, folds, punched holes, cuts, and expected edge and corner wear, one of the contact sheets is torn on the edge, along with common signs of age and storage. This lot includes only partial negatives and not every frame from the contact sheet has a corresponding negative. Only 31 cut negative frames are included in this lot.
SKU: WBB1044