Coordinates: 40°43′39″N 73°59′19″W / 40.7276°N 73.9886°W / 40.7276; -73.9886

Fillmore East

The entrance to the Fillmore is now a bank branch.
Location	105 Second Avenue at East 6th Street Manhattan, New York City
Type	concert hall
Genre(s)	rock
Opened	March 8, 1968
Closed	June 27, 1971
Former name(s)	Commodore Theater Village Theater
Capacity	2,654

The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in 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.

Pre-Fillmore East [edit]

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"^[1] 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 theatre, the Loews Commodore. It later became the Village Theatre.^[1][2] When Graham took over the theatre in 1967, it had fallen into disrepair. Despite the deceptively small marquee and façade, the theater had a capacity of almost 2,700.

Fillmore East years [edit]

The venue provided Graham with an East Coast counterpart to his existing Fillmore in San Francisco, California.^[3] 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 [edit]

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. John Lennon performed there with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention 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." The 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] From the summer of 1970, Joe's Lights, made up of former members of the Joshua Light Show,^[7] became the house light show, trading duties until the venue's closing in 1971 with The Pig Light Show, under the direction of Marc L. Rubinstein.

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, The Allman Brothers, and Joe's Lights. The show, "Welcome To Fillmore East" was aired on WNDT 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 [edit]

Because of the auditorium's great acoustics, many live albums were recorded at the Fillmore East, including:

Duane Allman on the Fillmore East's final weekend

• The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East (1971)
• The Allman Brothers Band – Fillmore East, February 1970 (released 1997) on Grateful Dead Records
• 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 (released 2006)
• 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
• 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) and Live at the Fillmore East (1999)
• Lorin Hollander – Lorin Hollander at the Fillmore East ; recorded Feb. 23, 1969
• Humble Pie – Performance Rockin' the Fillmore (1971)
• 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 1969; 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)
• Ten Years After – Live at the Fillmore East 1970 ; recorded February 27–28, 1970 (released 2001)
• Johnny Winter – Live Johnny Winter And ; recorded at Fillmore East & Pirate's World, Dania,FL
• Johnny Winter – "Johnny Winter And: 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 – Freaks And Motherfu*#@%! ; recorded in 1970 (released 1991)
• Frank Zappa's Mothers – Fillmore East - June 1971 (released 1971)

This signpost is all that marks the spot

Closing [edit]

Because of changes in the music industry and exponential growth in the concert industry, Graham closed the Fillmore East. Its final concert took place on June 27, 1971, with the billed acts: The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Albert King, and special guests – Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys, and Country Joe McDonald – in an invitation-only performance.^[8] 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 – WPLJ's Dave Herman & Vin Scelsa and WNEW-FM's Scott Muni 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.

Afterlife [edit]

On December 7, 1974, Barry Stuart (Stein), reopened the venue as the NFE Theatre – "NFE" standing for "New Fillmore East" – with a concert presenting Bachman-Turner Overdrive. It operated through 1975, but was renamed the "Village East", supposedly due to objections from Bill Graham over the use of the Fillmore name.

In 1980, the venue became The Saint, a private gay nightclub. As of 2007, the former lobby building is owned by the Emigrant Savings Bank, which has a branch at street level, and the rest of the interior where the auditorium once was has been demolished and replaced with an apartment complex, Hudson East, with its entrance at 225 East 6th Street.^[9] The building at 105 Second Avenue is now part of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District, created in October 2012.^[2]

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

References [edit]

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

External links [edit]

• 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