Archival photo courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild
On this date (June 27!) in 1971, the Fillmore East closed its doors after a legendary three-year run at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street.
The sibling to Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968.
For the last show (an invitation-only performance), there were reportedly three billed acts — headliners The Allman Brothers Band plus The J. Geils Band and Albert King ... and special surprise guests Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys and Country Joe McDonald.
The concert was simulcast live by WPLJ and WNEW ... with running commentary from DJs Dave Herman, Vin Scelsa, Scott Muni and others.
You can check out the audio here (courtesy of Dave on 7th!).
Today, part of the address is an Apple Bank. There is a Fillmore East plaque out front that arrived in 2014 courtesy of The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) and Two Boots.
This even was on the street Link screens today!
ReplyDeleteHoward Sounes mentions the FE three times in his book "27: A History of the 27 Club through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse". Got it on the $3 stand at Strand recently.
ReplyDeleteI hate to sound schoolmarmish but no one ever called it the Fillmore West. There was the Fillmore and the Fillmore East. My friends from the West Coast made sure I remembered that.
ReplyDeleteSorry Pat. But you are wrong. The Fillmore Auditorium at Fillmore & Geary was Bill’s first Fillmore. Then he opened the Fillmore East, which was known as the Village Theatre, but the previous owners threatened to sue, so Bill used Fillmore East. He then stopped operating the Fillmore Auditorium and opened the Fillmore West, which had been the Carousel Ballroom. For awhile both the Fillmore Aud and the Fillmore West were operating at the same time.
DeleteThough I’m sure people in both NYC and SF said they were going to the Fillmore without specifying East or West. Why would you?
DeleteThanks for the history, I was not aware of that. I traveled a bit when I was young and was most probably out of the country and out of the loop when those changes occured. Would agree with everyone who was there that it was a great time and more affordable than concerts are now.
DeleteGreatest place to see concerts. Everything was great- music, light show and incredibly cheap prices. Miss everything about that time.
ReplyDeleteThe last rock shows were actually in 74-75 but Bill Graham wouldn't let the promoter use the name Fillmore. The FE closing was due to the fact that promoters could make a shit ton of money on arena and stadium shows which funnily enough led to the rejection of dinosaur rock a few years later and eventually the birth of another monster, Punk Rock, a few blocks away at CBGBs.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall it reopening briefly around 1975 or '76. Anybody have the deets?
ReplyDeleteYes. It was operated as the Village East.
DeleteI seem to remember that venue reopening briefly in the late-70's. Maybe as "The Saint"? Anybody recall the deets?
ReplyDeleteSaw Quicksilver Messenger Service there…Fillmore East may have had a short life but it made an enormous impact
ReplyDeleteYes the Saint was a dance space as I recall once saw Airplane at the b n h having soup before the show !
ReplyDelete9:47 is correct Fillmore East was rebranded and called the New Fillmore East in late 1974 it didn't last beyond 1975 few good bands played there though the Saint didn't open til 1980 also the New Fillmore East had zero to do with the Fillmore in SF or Bill Graham
ReplyDeleteComparing concerts, tickets and prices then and now is apples and oranges. It costs way more to produce a show today to say nothing of the salaries roadies, truckers, stage crews, electricians, caterers, and mangers and everything that goes with that. Besides which a lot of musicians, especially Black ones, played for peanuts back in the day and many continued to get ripped off by the likes of Led Zeppelin and others who blatantly stole their music and wouldn't even credit them unless taken to court.
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of comparing, over the years of the Fillmore East , the average headliner received $2500 for two 45 minute sets. There were generally three bands each night. To your point about Black acts, Bill used the draw of the better bands to put on great Black jazz and Blues performers including Miles Davis and Albert Collins. Having said that they were probably paid less for being openers, but better than their other gigs, though it introduced them to the larger white audience of the time.
DeleteTickets were 3,4 and 5 dollars reserved per set. The house was cleared between shows. So double the ticket price for two sets.
So. As a way of comparison, my handy cpi calculator says, that average headliner was getting about $18,000 for two sets and each set cost between $22.50 and $37.50.