The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.
In 1968, Graham moved his concerts to a different venue in San Francisco, formerly known as The Carousel Ballroom and El Patio at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue, that he renamed Fillmore West.
The original Fillmore Auditorium continued under the name The Elite Club. Graham began presenting concerts at the original Fillmore Auditorium again in the 1980s, but it was closed due to earthquake damage in October 1989. After much structural work, in 1994 the original Geary Boulevard location re-opened as The Fillmore.
As of 2008, The Fillmore is leased and operated by Live Nation.
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In the mid-1960s, The Fillmore Auditorium became the focal point for psychedelic music and counterculture in general, with such acts as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Carlos Santana, The Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Miles Davis, and British acts The Who, Pink Floyd, Elton John, and Cream all performing at the venue.[2] Besides rock, Graham also featured non-rock acts such as Lenny Bruce, Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Lloyd, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Redding as well as poetry readings.
The venue had a legendary ambience as well as the stellar performances, often with swirling light-show projections, strobe lights and uninhibited dancing. The cultural impact of the Fillmore was very large. It is referenced by Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in a description of the counterculture of the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay area.
The Fillmore was mentioned in the film Dirty Harry.
After two years at the Fillmore Auditorium, because of a deteriorating neighborhood and the modest capacity of the hall, Bill Graham moved the venue in July 1968 from the original building at 1805 Geary Boulevard to the Carousel Ballroom at 10 South Van Ness Avenue, at the corner of Market Street which was renamed Fillmore West in contrast with Graham's Fillmore East auditorium in the East Village in New York City. There is now an automobile dealership at that location.
The original Fillmore location became a venue called The Elite Club. For several years in the early 1980s, punk promoter Paul Rat booked punk rock shows at this venue. Punk bands that performed at The Elite Club include Bad Religion,[3] Black Flag, Bad Brains, The Dead Kennedys, T.S.O.L., Flipper, Gang of Four, and Public Image Ltd.[4]
The Fillmore reopened under Graham's management in the mid-1980s, but it was damaged and closed by the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989. After Graham died in a helicopter crash in 1991, those close to him decided to carry out his final wish to retrofit and reopen the original Fillmore. The Fillmore re-opened on April 27, 1994, with the band The Smashing Pumpkins playing an unannounced surprise show, and Primus playing the first official re-opening show the following night. The Fillmore has once again become a San Francisco hot spot with frequent shows. For a standard show, the capacity of the Fillmore is 1,199 guests.
Live Nation has recently begun a campaign to expand the Fillmore "brand" by changing the names of a number of established clubs it owns around the U.S. This includes clubs in Denver, Detroit, the Fillmore at the TLA in Philadelphia, the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City, and the Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida. A Fillmore in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, broke ground in 2010 and is expected to open in late 2011.[5] The Fillmore Charlotte opened in June 2009.[6]
The Fillmore is also well known for its psychedelic concert posters by artists who in the 1960s included Wes Wilson and Rick Griffin. Copies of the night's poster are given to fans free of charge as they exit selected, sold-out shows. A chronological collection of these posters is on display in the mezzanine level of the auditorium today.
Other traditions are carried on to this day. One is a large tub of free apples for concert goers positioned near the entrance. Another is a "greeter" who welcomes each guest as they enter with: "Welcome to the Fillmore!"
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