After a promising first year, Bill Graham’s Fillmore East had already changed the music industry. With appearances there generating Big Apple buzz and FM airplay that spread rapidly across the country, artists and their management clamored for bookings at New York’s must-play rock venue. Breaking new talent and creating rock legends, the Fillmore East was primed to rocket to even greater heights in 1969 and establish itself as one of the world’s premier concert halls for contemporary music.
1969
B.B. King and Johnny Winter
1969 kicked off with an all-blues show headlined by the great B.B. King with Johnny Winter and Terry Reid, a 19-year-old British singer/guitarist, as supporting acts. This concert would be the Fillmore East debut for all three. For B.B. King, the January 10 and 11 gigs were vitally important. His new manager had started booking him in the types of venues where rock audiences would be exposed to his music. He would soon accompany the Rolling Stones on their ’69 American tour along with Terry Reid and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The strategy was shrewd: King’s successful career would stretch out decades into the future and earn him 15 Grammy Awards and a place of honor in the Blues Hall of Fame. But, first, he had to win over a tough New York crowd with his inimitable vocal style and guitar virtuosity. After his informal invitation to jam with Super Session a month earlier, Johnny Winter’s first official appearance wowed the Fillmore audience with his unique, high-energy brand of blues rock. He would play the Fillmore East on six more occasions — four of those as the headliner. Terry Reid would return in July, having moved up a notch to the second act.
B.B. King Performing Live
(1972)
Buddy Rich and the Grass Roots
Buddy Rich took the stage on January 17 and 18 — this time as the headliner. Bill Graham was still experimenting with mixed genres for his Fillmore East shows. However, this bill would not include a hard-rock outfit like Steppenwolf. Opening for Rich was the Grass Roots, a soft-rock band whose first hit single, “Let’s Live For Today,” garnered heavy AM (and some FM) airplay during the Summer of Love and eventually sold over two million copies. Proving themselves as reliable hit makers, the Grass Roots would play several pop festivals in the fall and winter of ’68 as their single “Midnight Confessions” was peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Though still no heavy rock act, the Grass Roots had changed their sound. Featuring a slick, new contemporary sound characterized by a busy bass line, a Farfisa organ, and a horn section, “Midnight Confessions” would be their biggest charting hit. On the record, the band sang lead and backing vocals while the instruments were played by LA “Wrecking Crew” session musicians, including Carole Kaye on bass, Hal Blaine on drums, Don Randi on piano, and a brass section of three trumpets and three trombones. The third act on the bill was pop-rock group Spirit, who was riding on the coattails of their most commercially successful single, “I Got a Line on You.”
Blood, Sweat & Tears and Jethro Tull
Often considered one of the first hybrid “jazz-rock” groups, Blood, Sweat & Tears had a distinctive sound that was, essentially, blues- and soul-influenced pop rock with horns. Although structurally simpler (and less groundbreaking) than much of the jazz fusion that would come along in the ’70s, their music did incorporate extended jazz improvisation in the solo sections. English band Jethro Tull would play the Fillmore East a total of seven times — four in 1969. They would be second on the bill for their first three outings before graduating to the headliner for their December shows. Opening for BS&T on January 24 and 25, Tull would rock the Fillmore audience with their fat, full sound, perfectly mixed and blasted to the back of the balcony with shimmering clarity, courtesy of the Fillmore East’s then state-of-the-art sound system (and stacks of Marshall amps). Featuring the idiosyncratic vocal and flute stylings of front man Ian Anderson and the adroit Les Paul artistry of the band’s excellent new guitarist, Martin Barre, the thrilling performance would help build Jethro Tull’s reputation as a major progressive rock act. Tull would again open for BS&T on April 11.
Jethro Tull Performing Live in 1973
Photo Credit: Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jethro Tull returned to the Fillmore East on July 3 for a special one-night show, opening for the Jeff Beck Group. With Ian Anderson firmly in creative control, Tull’s second album would be released that month in the UK and Europe, quickly shooting to number one. Released in September in the US, it reached number 20 on the Billboard 200, accelerating the momentum that would soon catapult the band to international stardom. On December 5 and 6, Jethro Tull would play their first concerts at the Fillmore East as the top act; they returned twice in 1970 and once in ’71.
Led Zeppelin’s US Debut
On January 31, 1969, Led Zeppelin made the first of their two Fillmore East appearances. Their debut album had just bowed, and New York was electric with the anticipation of seeing this hot, new English band live. As they were untested before a US audience, Bill Graham booked them as the opening act for Iron Butterfly. Their first set that evening absolutely slayed, ripping up the house so thoroughly that Iron Butterfly flatly refused to go on after them again. So, Led Zeppelin headlined the 11:30 show — never again to be an opening act. In retrospect, one wonders what part their manager Peter Grant (who would become known as a pugnacious negotiator and tireless advocate for his clients) played in this dramatic turnaround that left the audience somewhat dazed and confused — and completely delighted. That night (and the following), Jimmy Page played the Fender Telecaster gifted him by his childhood friend and Yardbirds comrade Jeff Beck, sending shockwaves into the audience with every strike of his pick and violin bow. This was the guitar he used on the first album and frequently after that — perhaps most notably on the epic solo for “Stairway to Heaven.” But, by the time Zeppelin returned triumphantly to the Fillmore East at the end of May, Jimmy had switched to the Gibson Les Paul for live shows due to the thicker sound of its humbucking pickups.
Led Zeppelin Publicity Photo
(Late ’60s)
Janis Joplin Returns
On Tuesday, February 11, Janis Joplin returned to the Fillmore East for two nights of shows with a new backing group, the Kozmic Blues Band, comprised of West Coast session musicians plus guitarist Sam Andrew, a holdover from Big Brother. Most notable about this weekend’s billing was the fact that the opening act was none other than the Grateful Dead! The Dead’s show of support for Janis in her new role as a solo artist would be the only one of their 11 Fillmore bookings where they weren’t the headliner. Coming on the heels of Led Zeppelin, this all-California weekend built on the considerable success of the Fillmore East in its first year. Its 1969 schedule, packed with world-class talent delivering incredible must-see performances, would cement its legacy as New York’s legendary rock palace.
Sam & Dave and Chuck Berry
The following weekend had a split bill in store for audiences. On Friday, February 14, the Fillmore’s Valentine’s Day show headlined Sam & Dave with Johnny Winter (billed simply as “Winter”) and Aorta opening. Aorta, a rock band from Chicago, was notable for one of its founding members, bassist-vocalist Peter Cetera. Cetera later left the group when its music took a psychedelic turn and joined a group that evolved into Chicago Transit Authority (later shortened to just “Chicago” when the government agency objected). The following night, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry took the stage as headliner with Winter, British blues-rock band Savoy Brown, and Aorta as the supporting acts. Enjoying the fruits of several hit records, film appearances, and a profitable touring schedule, Chuck Berry established himself as a certified star in the latter half of the 1950s. He even owned his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry’s Club Bandstand. It was, therefore, a treat for New Yorkers to see the legend at their beloved Fillmore East. The evening’s shows were noteworthy not only for Berry’s knock-’em-dead sets but also for the rare four-act bill. Formed in 1965, Savoy Brown is notable for its longevity. Despite numerous lineup changes, founding member guitarist Kim Simmonds has kept Savoy Brown alive and gigging. As of this writing, they are still scheduled for select dates in America.
Chuck Berry Performing Live
(1972)
The Who: The Fiery Premiere of Tommy
The evening of Friday, May 16, with the album Tommy scheduled to release the following day, the Who set the Fillmore East ablaze (figuratively) by premiering Pete Townshend’s highly anticipated rock opera in its entirety. The band planned to play two shows each night on Friday and Saturday, but fate intervened. Toward the end of their first set, someone flung a Molotov cocktail into the Lion Supermarket that shared a wall with the Fillmore, and a three-alarm blaze broke out. As firefighters arrived on the scene, a fire chief assured Bill Graham that his audience wasn’t in danger and decided to wait until the Who finished its set before evacuating the hall. Oblivious to the smoke filtering into the auditorium, everyone was focused on the riveting performance onstage. Then, out of nowhere, a plainclothes detective strode onto the stage and demanded that Roger Daltrey hand over his mic. Pete Townshend wasn’t having it and, without missing a beat, lined up a swift kick to the detective’s groin.
Given that Townshend’s stage wardrobe always included formidable Dr. Martens boots, that must have hurt quite a bit. As the interloper was dragged off the stage, doubled over in pain, the confused audience responded to the spectacle with a standing ovation. The Who carried on as if nothing happened, and most of the audience assumed the thickening smoke was part of the show. It was the Who, after all!
At the finale of Tommy, the crowd went totally nuts as the Who launched straight into “Summertime Blues.” Meanwhile, Bill Graham had been trying to get Pete’s attention from the wings. Graham finally caught his eye and came onstage to apprise the guitarist of the situation. With Townshend’s understanding and blessing, Graham stepped up to the mic and said to the crowd, “We have a little problem,” and informed them that the ushers would clear the hall until it was safe to return, at which time the Who would finish their set. The building was empty within minutes. The smoke, however, hung out for hours. So, the Who did not get to finish their set, and the late show was canceled. On the spot, Graham announced to audience members milling about on the sidewalk outside that two Sunday shows would be added to the weekend schedule and that they would receive replacement tickets at the box office.
Later that evening, Pete Townshend was charged with assaulting a police officer, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. On Saturday morning, he turned himself in and spent a few hours in a holding cell until Graham came by to bail him out. On Saturday and Sunday nights, the Who took the Fillmore East stage again, treating their fans to four more incredible shows. Ultimately, the upshot of Townshend’s legal troubles amounted to a $75 misdemeanor fine. On June 5 and 6, Townshend and company were back at the Fillmore East for what was billed as “The Triumphal Return of The Who” with Chuck Berry and Albert King as opening acts. And triumphal it was, as Tommy was now selling briskly and enjoying heavy airplay across several continents. But, as we shall see, even more triumphs lay ahead for the British group in 1969.
Zep Returns
Since their January 31 Fillmore East debut, Led Zeppelin had rocketed to stardom and were playing to sold-out crowds on both sides of the Atlantic. Now back stateside for their second US tour, Zep took the Fillmore stage on May 30 and 31 and showed New Yorkers how it’s done. Combining masterful musicianship, great songs, and dramatic theatrics, they were simply the coolest band around. The same could hardly be said about the band that opened for them. Many fans who attended — and quite a few music critics — have opined that Bill Graham probably went a bit too far in mixing genres on this billing when he chose Woody Herman and His Orchestra to open for Led Zeppelin. A holdover from the WWII swing era, clarinetist Woody Herman (who doubled on alto and soprano sax) and his big band might have had a fighting chance with open-minded rock fans had they stuck with a jazz repertory. Instead, they chose to pander to the youthful audience by performing cringey big-band arrangements of then-current pop hits. Sounding like well-played elevator music, it went over like a lead balloon. Singer-songwriters Delaney & Bonnie, who would later team up with Eric Clapton and others as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends and Derek and the Dominoes, were the third act that weekend.
Santana
On August 1, 1969, guitarist Carlos Santana ascended the Fillmore East stage for the first of six appearances. This night and the next, his eponymous Bay Area band (who were managed by Bill Graham) would entrance the audience with their powerful potion of Latin-infused rock. These performances would be historically significant because Santana was third on the bill. Later that month, they would set the Woodstock festival aflame, stealing the show with one of the festival’s most acclaimed — and inspired — performances and becoming one of the highlights of the subsequent documentary film. Their Woodstock triumph, culminating with a breathtaking rendition of “Soul Sacrifice,” driven forward incessantly by the superhuman drumming of 20-year-old Michael Shrieve, would rocket the band to international fame. Their self-titled debut album was released the previous May, and the second single from it, “Evil Ways,” would advance to number nine and spend 13 weeks on the charts. The album benefited similarly, spending over two years on the Billboard 200. When they returned triumphantly to the Fillmore East on November 7, they were the headliners — as they would be in January, April, August of 1970, and April of 1971.
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Santana Publicity Photo
(1971)
The Woodstock Connection
Speaking of Woodstock, it was during the summer of 1969 that the Fillmore East’s essential staff became the core team that staged the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, which eventually took place on 600 acres of Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, NY, after plans for several locations fell through. Fillmore East stage lighting director Chip Monck was hired as the lighting designer. At the last minute, he was conscripted for MC duties when festival promoter Mike Lang realized he had neglected to hire one. Bill Hanley, who had designed the Fillmore’s impressive house sound system, received the contract for festival sound. Years later, in an interview, Bill talked about his groundbreaking achievement in live sound: “I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people. Of course, 500,000 showed up.” Delivering clean, rock-level sound to what was, effectively, a small city was no easy task, particularly when factoring in the state of the art in pro audio equipment at the time.
The Who Take Up Residency
On October 20 through 25, the Who took up residency at the Fillmore East. As the only act on the bill, it was a six-night tour de force from a band that had garnered rave reviews for their commanding “sunrise set” at the Woodstock festival just two months prior. Initially scheduled for Saturday evening, their Woodstock appearance was repeatedly pushed back by cascading delays that had been compounding since the start of the festival due to performers stuck in traffic arriving late, technical snafus, and bad weather. And so, the Who began their set at 5AM Sunday morning and proceeded to rip through 24 numbers with incredible tightness and energy, considering that they probably hadn’t slept since Friday night (if then). Their high-wattage performance was well received by the troupers in the audience who were still awake — and a rude awakening for those who weren’t! The Who’s unprecedented solo six-night stand at New York’s premier rock venue cemented the band’s status as a preeminent international rock act.
The Allman Brothers
On Friday, December 26, the Allman Brothers made their Fillmore East debut. Third on the bill behind headliners Blood, Sweat & Tears and second act Appaloosa, the Allmans took the stage for their early set and so impressed the audience that Appaloosa, an acoustic group with violin, guitar, and cello, was loathe to take the stage after them. Featuring a seductive brand of Southern blues rock, the impressive lead guitar and slide mastery of Duane Allman, and the keyboard artistry of his brother Greg on Hammond organ, the Allman Brothers played the Fillmore East on six different occasions over the ensuing year and a half, working their way up from third act to the headliners. For those familiar with the Allman Brothers’ history, “fate” is a word often associated with the group. And, as fate would have it, they would be the last band to play New York’s legendary rock palace on its closing weekend in June of 1971.
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The Allman Brothers Band Publicity Photo
(1972)
Band of Gypsys Rings in the New Decade
After closing the Woodstock festival with an expanded band that included Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and his army buddy Billy Cox on bass, Jimi Hendrix helped the Fillmore East ring in the new year — and a new decade. With the streamlined Band of Gypsys, Jimi retained Cox on bass but replaced the jazzy sophistication of Mitchell (whom Jimi once referred to as “my Elvin Jones,” referencing the legendary drummer in John Coltrane’s Classic Quartet) with the pile-driver drumming of Buddy Miles. Kicking off the New Year’s Eve festivities at 8PM on Wednesday, December 31, were the Voices of East Harlem, a spirited gospel youth ensemble. Then, with the anticipation of the sold-out audience at a frenzied pitch, Hendrix and company proceeded to plow through a scorching, 75-minute performance of all-new material. No one had ever heard the 11 songs they played.
The late show took place earlier than usual — at 10:30PM — to make way for a special celebration as midnight approached. The Joshua Light Show flashed a huge clock on the screen, and the entire audience yelled as the clock counted down: “. . . Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” It was momentous — the end of the Sixties. Then the light show screen suddenly lifted up, and everybody flooded onto the stage — all the musicians, the Fillmore crew, even the roadies and backstage guests. Then Bill Graham stepped up to the center-stage microphone as Guy Lombardo’s “Auld Lang Syne” played over the PA: “I’m Bill Graham. From everybody in the Fillmore family, a very, very happy New Year — and a new decade!” Then Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys launched into their inspired version of “Auld Lang Syne,” complete with blues licks, whammy bar, and feedback. For those who were there, it was a historic night to remember.
1970
In contrast to the celebratory mood of the previous evening, Jimi’s January 1 shows were more subdued as they were being recorded to fulfill a contractual commitment. The band laid down masterfully executed sets with brilliant playing on Jimi’s part, tight interplay between the band members, and a minimum of theatrics. The resulting album, Band of Gypsys, would be released to mixed critical reviews but nevertheless pierced the top 10 of the US and UK album charts, becoming Jimi’s best-selling album in America since Are You Experienced. The music was indeed quite a departure from that of the Experience. Hendrix biographer John McDermott observed that “Jimi’s playful humor had been replaced with a strident sense of self-examination” while Billy Cox and Buddy Miles prodded Jimi’s embrace of the R&B tradition they shared. The result was a blend of rock and funk that would significantly influence the bumper crop of funk-rock artists that sprang up in the ’70s.
Miles Davis
On March 6 and 7, trumpeter Miles Davis opened for Neil Young and Crazy Horse and the Steve Miller Band — yet another example of Bill Graham’s penchant for mixing genres on his Fillmore bills. Columbia Records was there to record the Davis Sextet’s early and late performances each night. Although the recordings (culled entirely from the March 7 shows) were never released until 2001 as a double CD entitled It’s About That Time, various bootleg discs and reel-to-reels quickly made it into circulation. Astute fans eagerly snapped them up. These would be longtime saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s last live gigs with Davis, although he would remain for one final studio date a couple of weeks later. In addition to Shorter on tenor and soprano, this Davis grouping included Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Dave Holland on upright and electric bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. It’s About That Time would be one of the first recordings to document Davis’s embrace of electric instruments in a concert setting.
The audience, many of whom were there to see the rock headliners, had their minds permanently altered with previews of compositions from Miles’s landmark fusion outing Bitches Brew, which would not be released until the end of the month. Also included in the program was a nascent version of “Willie Nelson,” a track the band had begun working on a few days earlier that would end up on the 1971 album Jack Johnson. Bitches Brew would prove to be a tremendous crossover success for Davis, drawing in droves of rock fans worldwide (albeit while alienating a sizable number of jazz purists). The March Fillmore East shows helped set the stage for the release of Bitches Brew and the expanded Davis Septet’s epic four-night stand at the venue a mere three months later; they also primed the pump for the mass acceptance of jazz fusion in the coming decade.
For longtime Miles Davis fans, the weekend was a snapshot in time of Miles’s nearly complete transformation from 1950s modal-jazz icon to ’60s post-bop innovator to avant-garde ’70s jazz-rock fusion trailblazer. Released the previous summer, In a Silent Way had electrified legions of rock fans. As did Bitches Brew, it featured the amazing guitar talents of a young British guitarist, John McLaughlin. But the Davis bands that played the Fillmore East in 1970 had no guitar — only heavily effected electronic keyboards. Blending hard-bop, post-bop, and free-jazz elements into DeJohnette’s potpourri of sophisticated syncopation mixed with the straight-up rock beats that would characterize much of Miles’s 1970s output, the band thrilled the Fillmore audience with tight, powerful, unforgettable performances. Most of the program consisted of entirely new music no one in the audience had ever heard before made all the more unpredictable by Miles’s habit of launching impromptu into the next song before the previous one had ended, signaling the transition to the band with just a few notes.
The evening of Wednesday, June 17, Miles Davis and his band returned to the stage at Fillmore East for a historic four-night stand, recorded and released the following fall as a double album, Miles Davis at Fillmore. That the group was opening for the eclectic singer-songwriter Laura Nyro was irrelevant to Davis fans. They packed into the Fillmore to see the jazz giant perform compositions from his groundbreaking fusion studio albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, the latter released to universal critical acclaim at the end of March. Miles’s rapidly evolving sound was evidenced by the instrumentation and personnel for the June Fillmore sets, harmonically anchored now by two electric keyboards: a Fender Rhodes and a Fender Contempo organ played by Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, respectively. Both keyboards, overdriven and routed through fuzz, ring modulator, delay, and wah-wah pedals, at times barked and snarled at each other like savagely distorted guitars. At other times, they coalesced into balmy atmospherics quite different from those that could be realized with guitars. The rest of the personnel was the same as for the March shows except for Steve Grossman, who had replaced Wayne Shorter, on tenor, soprano, and flute.
From frenzied, clangorous, free-blowing jazz to pounding electric hard bop to bombastic rock-anthem themes, the music pushed the envelope even further than in Davis’s March shows. Suffice it to say that the audience, whether or not they appreciated or understood the relentless onslaught of controlled cacophony being hurled at them, were completely blown away — and not likely in a receptive mood for the sensitive song stylings of Laura Nyro. It was, after all, unreasonable to expect any artist to go on after Miles Davis! Carlos Santana put it succinctly:
If ever there was a time when a rock audience was willing to open their ears and hear some great modern jazz like the kind Miles was creating, it was at the Fillmore from the late ’60s into 1970, ’71.”
Carlos Santana
The second half of 1970 and the first three months of ’71 saw repeat performances by many of the artists who helped establish the Fillmore East as New York’s definitive rock showplace (and had their careers boosted in return). Additionally, debuts of ascendant newcomers graced that now-hallowed stage. The music lovers packing the auditorium for every show were delighted; however, unbeknownst to them, the Fillmore era was drawing to a close.
1971
The Beginning of the End of an Era
The May 6, 1971, issue of The Village Voice contained an open letter from Bill Graham dated April 29. In it, Graham announced that he was closing the Fillmore East and Fillmore West and his reasons for doing so. It was a sad farewell for legions of New York music fans who, still reeling from the “27 Club” deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix the previous fall, were crushed by the loss of their beloved rock palace. Graham then enumerated seven reasons for the momentous decision.
At the core was the sobering reality that the music business had changed radically since the Fillmore East opened in March of 1968. Before the Woodstock festival, Graham had warned that “festival syndrome would be the beginning of the end” of the music business as a convivial cottage industry. Indeed, Woodstock was the wake-up call that rock concerts had become big business replete with ever-higher ticket prices for gaudy extravaganzas in 20,000-seat sports stadiums acoustically ill-suited to live music. No longer would headline acts be content to play 2,700-seat venues. The Rolling Stones (who never appeared at the Fillmores) had already played North American arenas to sellout crowds — and ambitious artists wanted a piece of that action.
According to Graham, friendly, handshake agreements with musicians were becoming lawyered-up negotiations with “officers and stockholders in large corporations” who just happened “to have long hair and play guitars.” Graham took exception to ever-more-powerful talent agents and managers — of which Led Zeppelin’s Peter Grant was the prototype. Graham expressed his disdain for the “new rock game” of “packaging,” which meant that, if he wanted to book a major headliner, he would also be forced to take a second and/or third act that the agent or manager insisted upon, regardless of the quality or suitability of the act for that particular show. Graham also took issue with the audiences themselves, noting that “In the early days of both Fillmore East and West, the level of audience seemed much higher in terms of musical sophistication. Now there are too many screams for ‘More’ with total disregard for whether or not there was any musical quality.”
Graham ended his letter on a sincere note of gratitude: “I truly wish to express my overwhelming appreciation for the people, who, over the years, gave their time and devoted energy to working at the Fillmores. To them, and to many, many musicians who grew in stature without ever copping out, and to those admirable patrons who both refused to support marathon rip-offs and who even took the time to helpfully criticize me for the errors I made — to all of you, my fondest thanks and farewell.”
The Dead’s Epic Five-night Stand
Perhaps fittingly, Graham wrote his farewell letter to Big Apple music fans on the very day when his “house band” the Grateful Dead were finishing their triumphal five-night stand at the Fillmore East. From Sunday, April 25, through Thursday, April 29, the Dead ruled supreme in the city that never sleeps, extending their infamous marathon sets until dawn. Emphasizing the epic status of the shows as, in essence, the culmination of the band’s 10 previous appearances at the venue, they had just one (musically simpatico) opening act, New Riders of the Purple Sage. But the Dead also had some surprises in store for the audiences.
The second night of their residency, they were joined onstage by Duane Allman. (The Allman Brothers had recently opened for the Dead in February.) Then, toward the end of their second set on Tuesday, April 27, Jerry Garcia surprised the audience again when he invited “another famous California group” to join the Dead onstage. The Beach Boys, minus Brian Wilson, emerged from the wings, and they all launched into the Coasters’ “Searchin'” and the Leiber and Stoller song “Riot in Cell Block #9” made famous by the Robins. The Dead then exited the stage, leaving Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, and Al Jardine to enchant the audience with renditions of their classic hits “I Get Around” and “Good Vibrations.” During “Help Me Rhonda,” the Dead started trickling back out onstage, and the two bands proceeded to team up for Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”
To the hardcore deadheads packing the Fillmore that night, the Beach Boys were the antithesis of their heroes. In 1971, the Beach Boys didn’t enjoy the nearly universal esteem for their musical innovation they do today. To put it bluntly, they were largely considered passé by New York audiences. But the Grateful Dead knew otherwise. The warm welcome they extended to the seminal surf rockers and psychedelic pioneers softened up the audience, who were eventually won over by the good vibes that radiated out from the stage, as it was apparent everyone up there was having a great time. It was yet another Fillmore East night to remember.
ELP Take the Stage
Late Friday morning, as the Dead’s roadies were finishing up packing the band’s mountains of gear into a tractor trailer, British organ power trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s road crew arrived at the Fillmore with a massive, multi-ton equipment setup so elaborate that it required five hours to load in. In contrast to the earthy and rootsy Grateful Dead, ELP represented the new wave of prog-rock supergroups that were infusing (or, as some critics and rock purists would say, bloating) their music with classical motifs and jazz influences. Having formed in London in April of 1970, ELP’s Fillmore East debut would be a crowning first anniversary of sorts as they stormed the Big Apple with their bombastic music and over-the-top theatrics.
Countdown to (Bittersweet) Ecstasy
In the weeks that followed, the inexorable countdown to the venue’s permanent closure included repeat performances by Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, the Byrds, and B.B. King. And, speaking of outrageous onstage antics, on June 11 and 12, New York audiences were treated to Alice Cooper’s one-and-only Fillmore East appearance. Then, on Thursday, June 24, setting the stage for the closing weekend’s festivities, Johnny Winter appeared as the headliner with his keyboardist brother Edgar as the opening act. It was a rousing, one-night-only blast of loud ‘n’ rowdy, Texas-style blues rock that primed the audience (many of whom would be back the following evening) for the capstone event of the Fillmore East’s three-year-plus run, starring the Allman Brothers.
The Grand Finale
The denouement of a 39-month experiment that changed the music industry forever, the Allman Brothers’ June 25, 26, and 27 shows would be immortalized in what many critics and fans consider to be the best live rock album ever recorded. The iconic cover for At Fillmore East showed the band lounging against a wall of road cases in the alley behind the venue while the music within burned with an intensity that would cement the band’s reputation as a major rock act. After their first two studio releases had stalled commercially, their first live album would be the artistic and commercial breakthrough they had struggled toward for the previous two years. It would quickly elevate their profile and gain them legions of new rabid fans. The historical significance of this album cannot be overstated. Selected in 2004 for preservation in the Library of Congress, At Fillmore East is a documentary tribute to one of the most important music venues of all time. It remains a staple of classic rock radio to this day.
Opening for the Allmans were the J. Geils Band and Albert King. After their successful Fillmore appearances in February and April, Les Paul–slinging J. Geils and his Boston-based group were a well-oiled machine, tightly coiled and primed to deliver a strong dose of hard-hitting rock that would prove more than sufficient to warm up the crowd for the headliners. First act Albert King’s appearance was symbolic. King effectively bookended the venue’s historic run as the first act for the Fillmore East’s grand opening show featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company and for the final show. We’re sure Bill Graham went out of his way to ensure King’s participation in the closing weekend’s bill. For the countless music lovers who wore out the grooves of At Fillmore East in the ensuing years, it was a momentous event — one that left a lasting imprint on those who witnessed it firsthand.
Eulogy for a Legend
After the Fillmore East closed, the property saw several failed attempts to present live music on an ongoing basis and a stint as a private superclub interspersed with several periods of dormancy. As of this writing, the building that housed the Commodore, the Village Theater, and the Fillmore East now contains residential apartments and a bank branch. Sadly, the Fillmore East marquee and box office that welcomed so many music fans are long gone. The auditorium’s interior was gutted and replaced by an apartment complex with an entrance on 6th Street. As for the nondescript bank facade at 105 Second Avenue, formerly the portal to many an evening of musical nirvana, it’s hardly a fitting tribute to the iconic structure that hosted so much live music history.
Spudgun67, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Legacy of Bill Graham
As you may know, Bill Graham died tragically in a helicopter accident in 1991, but his legacy lives on. His company, Bill Graham Presents, was initially taken over by his sons before becoming absorbed into a larger media concern that eventually morphed into global entertainment giant Live Nation. In coordination with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and the city of Mountain View, California, Graham masterminded the concept for the Shoreline Amphitheatre, now the premier concert venue in Silicon Valley. In his post-Fillmore career, Graham became deeply involved in promoting benefit concerts. His uncompromising standards of excellence raised the bar for large-scale rock events like the 1985 Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now! tours in 1988. Graham was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 (in the nonperformer category) and the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Bill Graham (1974)
Tony Morelli, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Best Live Music on Earth
These are but a few of the accomplishments of a man who overcame tremendous obstacles to succeed in an industry he was inventing as he went along. Having survived a harrowing escape from Germany to France as a child, losing his parents, and growing up in a foster home in the Bronx, Bill Graham was more than a worthy match for ruthless operators in a cutthroat business. Those who condemned him for his infamous habit of raising his voice and dropping choice expletives to make a point in negotiations often missed the fact that, underneath the rough Bronx exterior, Graham was a fair-minded individual who preferred a more gentlemanly manner of conducting business. As for his impact on the music business, suffice it to say that, without Bill Graham, it would likely look a lot different than it does today. One thing is certain: Bill Graham’s innovations in concert promotion gave New Yorkers (and San Franciscans) easy access to the best live music on Earth for a few precious years. Those fortunate enough to experience it firsthand will never forget the Fillmore East.