Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. It was open from March 8, 1968, to June 27, 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time. The Fillmore East was a companion to Graham's Fillmore Auditorium, and its successor, the Fillmore West, in San Francisco, Graham's home base.
Video Fillmore East
Pre-Fillmore East
The theatre at 105 Second Avenue that became the Fillmore East was originally built as a Yiddish theater in 1925-26 - designed by Harrison Wiseman in the Medieval Revival style - at a time when the section of Second Avenue was known as the "Yiddish Theater District" and the "Jewish Rialto" because of the numerous theatres that catered to a Yiddish-speaking audience. Called the Commodore Theater, and independently operated, it eventually was taken over by Loews Inc. and became a movie theater, the Loews Commodore. It later became the Village Theatre, owned by Roger Euster, with on-site management by Bill Barenholtz. When Bill Graham took over the theatre in 1968, it had fallen into disrepair. Despite the deceptively small marquee and façade, the theater had a capacity of almost 2,700.
Maps Fillmore East
Fillmore East years
The venue provided Graham with an East Coast counterpart to his existing Fillmore in San Francisco, California. Opening on March 8, 1968, the Fillmore East quickly became known as "The Church of Rock and Roll," with two-show, triple-bill concerts several nights a week. Graham would regularly alternate acts between the East and West Coast venues. Until early 1971, bands were booked to play two shows per night, at 8 pm and 11 pm, on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Notable acts
Among the notable acts to play the Fillmore East was Jimi Hendrix. His album Band of Gypsys was recorded live on New Year's Day 1970. However, even before Hendrix hit the stage, British blues-rock trio Cream played the Fillmore East when it was called the "Village Theater" on September 20 & 23 1967. The Kinks played October 17th and 18th, 1969, supported by the Bonzo Dog Band. John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat in with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the theater on June 6, 1971. The Allman Brothers Band played so many shows at Fillmore East that they were sometimes called "Bill Graham's house band"; additionally, the Grateful Dead played a total of 43 concerts at the theater from June 1968 through April 1971. Jefferson Airplane performed six shows and Taj Mahal played eight shows at the venue, while Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young did four shows in September 1969 and six performances in June 1970. Led Zeppelin made four appearances in early 1969, opening for Iron Butterfly. Amateur film footage of their January 31 performance can be viewed at the Led Zeppelin website.
The Joshua Light Show, headed by Joshua White, was an integral part of many performances, with its psychedelic art lighting on a backdrop behind many live bands. From the summer of 1970, the Pig Light Show became the house light show under the direction of Marc L. Rubinstein, trading duties until the venue's closing in 1971 with Joe's Lights, made up of former members of the Joshua Light Show.
National Educational Television taped a show on September 23, 1970, for broadcast. It featured The Byrds, Elvin Bishop Group, Albert King, Sha Na Na, Van Morrison and Joe's Lights. The Allman Brothers were also taped for broadcast but due to technical difficulties, the segment with them was not aired. The show, "Welcome To Fillmore East" was aired on WNET channel 13 in NYC and simulcast on WNEW-FM radio on October 10, 1970, at 10:00 pm in the NYC area. A thirty-minute clip from that show of the Allmans can be seen on YouTube.
Live albums
Because of the auditorium's great acoustics, many live albums were recorded at the Fillmore East, including:
- The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East (1971)
- The Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore East, February 1970 (released 1997) on Grateful Dead Records
- The Allman Brothers Band - The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings six CD set of both early and late shows from March 12 and 13, 1971, and the complete closing show from June 27, 1971. released by The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2014.
- Buffalo Bob Smith - Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore East; creator of Howdy Doody (recorded April 4, 1971)
- The Chambers Brothers - Love, Peace and Happiness, a double album with one studio disc and one live disc recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore East
- Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen - The Complete Fillmore East Concerts - March 27-28, 1970. Six CD set released in 2006 on Hip-O Select.
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - 4 Way Street (1971)
- Miles Davis - Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About That Time (2001); recorded March 7, 1970, in a rare live recording of Davis's so-called '"lost quintet"
- Miles Davis - Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East (1970); recorded June 17-20, 1970
- Miles Davis - Miles at the Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3, four CD set of the complete shows from June 17, 18, 19 & 20, 1970 plus three bonus tracks from April 11, 1970, at Fillmore West. (released 2014, Columbia - Legacy)
- Derek and the Dominos - In Concert; recorded October 23-24, 1970 (released 1973)
- Derek and the Dominos - Live at the Fillmore ; recorded October 23-24, 1970 (released 1994)
- Flying Burrito Brothers - Authorized Bootleg: Fillmore East, N.Y., N.Y. Late Show, Nov. 7, 1970 (CD, Feb-2011, Hip-O Select)
- Virgil Fox/Heavy Organ - Bach Live at Fillmore East ; recorded Dec. 1, 1970 (released on LP 1971, on CD 1989)
- The Fugs - Golden Filth - Alive at the Fillmore East ; recorded June 1, 1968 (released on LP 1970, on CD as part of the Rhino Handmade 3-CD set, Electromagnetic Steamboat 2003)
- Grateful Dead - Ladies and Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead: Fillmore East - April 1971 (2000) ; a four-disc set taken from their five-night stint at the Fillmore East in April 1971
- Grateful Dead - Live at the Fillmore East 2-11-69 (1997)
- Grateful Dead - History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice) (February 13-14, 1970) (1973)
- Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Volume Four - Grateful Dead Fillmore East 2/13-14/70 (1996) ; a three-disc set released on Grateful Dead Records
- Grateful Dead - Road Trips Volume 3 Number 3 Fillmore East 5-15-70 ; a three-disc set with a bonus fourth disc included with early orders of the set from dead.net; (released 2010)
- Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys (1970), Live at the Fillmore East (1999) and Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show (2016)
- Lorin Hollander - Lorin Hollander at the Fillmore East ; recorded Feb. 23, 1969
- Humble Pie - Performance Rockin' the Fillmore (1971). Performance Rockin' The Fillmore The Complete Recordings, a four disc CD set with the early and late shows from both 5/28/71 and 5/29/71 (released by Omnivore Recordings 2013)
- Incredible String Band - Live At The Fillmore 1968 ; recorded June 5, 1968; released by Hux Records Ltd, 2013.
- Iron Butterfly - Fillmore East 1968 ; a two disc set recorded on April 26 & 27, 1968; released by Rhino Entertainment 2011.
- Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969) ; this album was split between the Fillmore East and Fillmore West.
- Jefferson Airplane - Live at the Fillmore East (recorded 1968; released 1998)
- Jefferson Airplane - Sweeping Up the Spotlight: Jefferson Airplane Live at the Fillmore East 1969 (released 2007)
- King Crimson - Epitaph - two-disc set with three tracks recorded at Fillmore East Nov. 21, 1969
- King Crimson - Live at Fillmore East - one disc with both Nov. 21 and Nov. 22, 1969 partial sets (released in 2004 on The King Crimson Club label as Club 25)
- Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield - Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes ; recorded Dec. 13-14, 1968 (released 2003)
- Love - Studio / Live - live tracks recorded at Fillmore East (released on LP 1982, on CD 1991)
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Live Jam - Side Two of this live album, which was included as a bonus album in Lennon & Ono's Some Time in New York City (released: 1972), was recorded at the Fillmore East on June 6, 1971.
- Taj Mahal - The Real Thing ; recorded Feb. 13, 1971 (remaster with one more track, released 2000)
- Mountain - Flowers Of Evil - Side 2 recorded at Fillmore East, December 26, 1970
- John Mayall - The Turning Point (1969) (released on CD 1990, remaster with three more tracks released 2001)
- The Nice - Live at the Fillmore East December 1969 ; recorded December 19-20, 1969 (released 2009)
- Laura Nyro - Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East (released 2004)
- Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails; live tracks recorded at both Fillmore East & Fillmore West (CD released 1994)
- Sly and the Family Stone - Live at the Fillmore East October 4th & 5th 1968 (released 2015)
- Ten Years After - Live at the Fillmore East 1970; recorded February 27-28, 1970 (released 2001)
- Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die - Deluxe Edition; Two CD set, with the second disc containing seven songs on six tracks recorded Nov. 18 & 19, 1970 at Fillmore East (released 2011 on Universal Island Records Ltd.)
- The Who - Live At The Fillmore East 1968; Two CD set, recorded April 6, 1968 (released 2018 on Polydor Ltd. (UK)
- Johnny Winter - Live Johnny Winter And; recorded at Fillmore East and Pirate's World, Dania, Florida (released 1971)
- Johnny Winter - Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70 (released 2010)
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Live at the Fillmore East recorded March 6-7, 1970 (released on CD and DVD 2006)
- Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Freaks And Motherfu*#@%! ; recorded in 1970 (released 1991)
- Frank Zappa's Mothers - Fillmore East - June 1971 (released 1971)
Closing
Because of changes in the music industry and large growth in the concert industry, Graham closed the Fillmore East. The final concert took place on June 27, 1971, with three billed acts (The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Albert King) and special surprise guests (Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys, Country Joe McDonald) in an invitation-only performance.
The concert was simulcast live by New York City radio stations WPLJ and WNEW-FM, with between-set banter by many of New York's then-trend-setting disc jockeys (including WPLJ's Dave Herman and Vin Scelsa and WNEW-FM's Scott Muni and Alison Steele) among them.
The Allman Brothers Band set was released as the second disc of the deluxe edition/remastered version of their Eat a Peach (1972 and 2006) album. In 2014, a six-disc set featuring the Allman Brothers Band's early and late shows at the Fillmore East of March 12 and 13, 1971 and including their performance on the venue's final night of June 27, 1971 was issued as The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings.
Afterlife
On November 17, 1972, the Fillmore East reopened as Villageast with "Virgin: A New Rock Opera Concert by The Mission". After a short run the Rock Opera closed and on December 15, 1972, Jerry Fuchs presented the opening night of concerts with a performance featuring Bloodrock, Elephants Memory and Trapeze. On December 16, 1972, the bill was Bloodrock, Foghat and The Fabulous Rhinestones. Fuchs went on to present several other concerts at Villageast including the New York Dolls and Teenage Lust on December 23, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley on December 27, Steve Miller Band and Seatrain on December 28 and Roy Buchanan and Crazy Horse on December 30 and 31, 1972.
On December 7, 1974, Barry Stuart (Stein), reopened the venue as the NFE Theatre ("NFE" stood for "New Fillmore East") with a concert presenting Bachman-Turner Overdrive. On December 31, 1974, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue headlined a bill that included Quicksilver Messenger Service and Hidden Strength. It operated through 1975, but was renamed the "Village East", supposedly due to objections from Bill Graham over the use of the Fillmore name.
From 1980 to 1988, the renovated venue was home to The Saint, a private gay superclub. As of 2013, the former lobby building is owned by the Apple Bank for Savings, which has a branch at street level, and the rest of the interior of the auditorium has been demolished and replaced with an apartment complex, Hudson East, with its entrance at 225 East 6th Street. The building at 105 Second Avenue is now part of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District, created in October 2012. In October 2014, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation unveiled a historic plaque on the building at a ceremony featuring Joshua White of the Joshua Light Show and critic/guitarist Lenny Kaye.
Live Nation resurrected the Fillmore East name by rebranding the renovated Irving Plaza as "The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza" on April 11, 2007, with English pop music singer and songwriter Lily Allen as the opening act. However, in May 2010 Live Nation conceded that the new name had not caught on and due to "unrelenting demand" the name "Irving Plaza" was restored beginning on June 23, 2010.
References
Notes
External links
- Fillmore Auditorium Posters at www.janisjoplin.net
- Fillmore East Preservation Society, dedication website
- Tim and Jeff on the Isle of Manhattan (timbuckleyandfriends.com), personal website that includes photographs of Fillmore East building in 2001
- Allman Brothers at The Fillmore East 1971, (wolfgangsvault.com), a nostalgia site
- The Fillmore East 2008 New Location
- Google Street View, September 2016
Source of article : Wikipedia
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