A question for those who have ever visited Bill Graham's theaters.

For those of you lucky enough to have lived back then and go to concerts at one of Bill Graham's venues, notably the Fillmore East in New York, what was it like?

Does anybody have any pictures they'd like to share? They seem to be scarce online. The one in New York was destroyed many years ago and was replaced with a bank and condos, with only the infamous top area remaining.

Stories are welcomed too. It must have been an amazing place to see concerts.

 

Winterland Ballroom SF CA USA
'Stoner Heaven'
The sights, the smells, the music, were all awesome of course; butt the overwhelming feeling i got walking in the 1st time ['73] was pot was legal & this was "our" place.

Partying in line B4 the concerts was as BIG for some as parting inside; like us who always triED too get there early or for the people that never made it in because of pre-over-ingesting.
Actually had a store inside for posters & stuff; only went in once, if i only knew now what the paper out of that place would be worth today!
Had an infirmary as well [staffED by volunteers ala 'Woodstock' sometimes]; only was there once as well, GF passing out during Trower... that's TRUE LUV!!

People were fans of 'Winterland' as much as the bands [in other words/people would go too a concert just because there was a concert there].
There were diff groups of fans within the fans, like the people that always sat at the top of the balcony [i always thought because of the contact high].
People that sat on the side usually always sat on the same side. The people on the floor in front of the stage were a diff group than the people that hung around on the sides or back of the floor.

Now that's usually the case at any venue or event anywhere; just going too 'Winterland' so often it really was more apparent than even at Bill's rent for the show only venues.
As well as the fact it was completely festival seating; where as other BIG venues may only have the floor as 'festival' & assigned seating everywhere else.

"Freedom & Music" what a concept!

 

What a story! Thanks for sharing.

 

I found it annoying--only because I wasn't there to experience it. Talk about being envious. Sounds like heaven.

 

Winterland, yeah, 1970 Grateful Dead and Sons of Champlain, don't remember a speck about the music, after a tremendous pre-concert medicinal input kicked in, the five guys I was with got lost in the crowd, I was following strangers, heh, suddenlyI was alone...it was an interesting evening. Crawled out before the Dead ever hit the stage.

Liked the inside.

 

http://manhattman.com/2014/winterland

I linked this before but here's a blog posting I wrote about Winterland. I saw more great shows there than anywhere else

 

Winterland/Filmore West...Fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tickets were $3.50 each.

What a party!! I can't remember 70% of the bands I saw... honestly.

It was remarkable. A weekly 'event', a Happening, that never ended.

It was simply... 'Outstanding'.

 

Going to see the Dead at Winterland between '73 and '77 is one of the happiest, most profound memories of my life.

Part of the show was seeing Bill Graham bustling around giving everybody s&*t and making sure everything was just exactly perfect.

Lysergic acid diethylamide and ganja fairly oozed from the grotty old walls of the joint.

If you were too young for the canonical Sixties (like me) this was a fairly magnificent continuation all of that stuff.

 

I went to the Fillmore East 4times(Santana 2x & Mountain 2x) starting in August 1970. I was 14 the first time I went, so it was a mind-blowing trip for me, light shows, opening groups I never heard of(some later became favorites) due to Graham's diverse bills, etc. Everyone had to stay seated there, as I recall jumping up and down the first time I heard 'Mississippi Queen' and being told by an usher to stay in my seat. Of course, if pretty much everybody got up it was OK to stand, as when I saw Santana and they played 'Soul Sacrifice' and the whole place was dancing. It was just a really cool place to see a concert , and IIRC, tix were $3.50, $4.50 & $5.50.

 

Went to Fillmore east once in June of 1971 to see Zappa. Same shows used for the official release. We attended the late show and it was almost light when we left.
Went to winterland once too. December 31 1972 for the dead, new riders and sons of champlin. David Crosby sat in with the dead.
Both were amazing experiences. My brother attended many shows at both places.

 

Winterland WAS great. My first show there (I was 15) was Dave Mason in January of 1974, and I was amazed not only by the music, but the fact you could openly 'spark one up' , and nobody said anything about it.
I eventually wound up going to an additional 14 shows through 1978, when they closed.
Tickets were incredibly cheap, even for a bunch of broke teenagers like us...around $5 for a ticket plus a couple of bucks to pitch in for gas,
and you could have a great time there.
Here's a cool little site that lists all the Winterland shows:
http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Winterland Shows.htm

 

I attended two concerts at Fillmore East:
B.B. King / Paul Bitterfield Blues Band / Elvin Bishop
Taj Mahal / Chambers Brothers / Spencer Davis and Peter Jamison
We had great tickets for both concerts. My favorite memory is Taj Mahal opening concert with his four tuba band. That concert was recorded for Colombia and released as "The Real Thing" album. Outstanding light shows. Other recollections: "Hummingbird" by B.B. King, "Time" by the Chambers Brothers. Fine times, and it was almost 50 years ago.

 

I saw a few shows at the Fillmore East in 1969. Most of the time there were 3 acts per show with the great Joshua Light Show on hand. It was always a trip standing under the marquee before the show; quite a buzz. Shows I can still remember:

Zappa & the Mothers / Buddy Miles Express / Chicago

Credence Clearwater/ Spirit / Ainsley Dunbar Retaliation - I remember Credence sounding so much like their recordings

Steppenwolf / Brian Auger & the Trinity w/Julie Driscol / John Hammond - loved this show

Jeff Beck Group / Joe Cocker & the Grease Band / NRBQ - one of my favorite shows ever; Rod Stewart & Ronnie Wood with Beck...Cocker & band were fantastic

Sly & the Family Stone / Clarence Carter / Rotary Connection - Sly ended the night (I think) by playing "Higher". He and the band exited the theater by walking out the center aisle and the entire crowd followed them out into the street. It was exhilarating.

I also saw Taj Mahal and Savoy Brown a couple of times, but can't remember who else was on the bill. My biggest regret was not seeing Hendrix and the Allmans but unfortunately Uncle Sam got in the way.

 

When Graham was producing Garcia on Broadway at the Lunt Fontaine theater, he caught me recording and personally escorted me out of the theater, then saw how sad I looked and let me back in, holding onto me Sony D6c for the rest of the show and returning it after.

It was my Rerun moment!

 

The Doors, Fillmore East, 1968

 

Fillmore West! My favorite. Saw so many great shows there -
The Who, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, The Faces, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, Big Brother w/Janis, Humble Pie, Elton John, Hot Tuna etc.
Best concert hall in SF .

 

Notice, everyone is seated!

 

The most visible tuba player looks like Howard Johnson, he had a group called Gravity that was about 8 tubas and a drummer!

 

You're right! I checked the personnel. Thanks.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Thing_(Taj_Mahal_album)

 

Fillmore East - saw some great shows -
The Allman Bros (about a year before they cut their live album - amazing show)
Zappa and the Mothers when they cut their live Fillmore LP
Albert King -- EL&P -- Moody Blues
others can't recall right now

-- Jethro Tull. The coolest thing about Tull was before the concert started there were a bunch of stage hands setting up the equipment - they were all wearing overcoats and hats. When the job was done a few guys walked off stage and the rest took off their coats and hats and lo and behold - it was the band including ian anderson - they fooled everybody - the crowd loved it................