Comments on: Fillmore East

By: David Gross

David Gross — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:16:37 +0000

Thanks for posting Marlene! The James Cotton Band were on 2nd and a group from the West Coast who I had never heard of before or since were the Loading Zone.

By: Marlene Dunham

Marlene Dunham — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:06:35 +0000

My first Fillmore East concert was on 6/21/1968 – The Vanilla Fudge (ha) and spent the next two years seeing everyone I could see. The last concert I saw (as I had no invitation) was June 26, 1971. It was a night I’ll never forget. Thanks for the memories.

By: David Gross

David Gross — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:26:51 +0000

Thanks for taking a look! The Fillmore was such a great place to see bands

By: g3msp4

g3msp4 — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:52:16 +0000

Great site. My first Filmore show was Dec 27 or 8th, Crazy World of Arthur Brown plus Super Session. I remember Johnny Winter played a song or two, but believe it or not I do not remember the BBB. I did see em, but I do not recall this show.
Best shows I saw: Procol Harum, Laura Nyro. Quicksilver Messenger Service. Grateful Dead ( any number of great Pigpen shows ). I can swear I saw Allmans, Dead, and Cippolina, or Peter Green all playing together once. Then again, was so long ago.
Just look at that photo of the Mothers. Last time you saw a stage like that?
I will say that Marilyn Manson had a very cool light show when I saw him last.

By: David Gross

David Gross — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:03:30 +0000

Thanks Fred! Glad you found the site.

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:24:37 +0000

I’ve been to many concerts as a teenager in the 70′s, a young adult in the 80′s and my last concert I attended was an Allman Brothers Band concert at the Virginia Beach Ampitheater in 1999. Comparing the audience of way back then and now is so different. I’ve stopped going to concerts because all I could hear was the audience. The audience drowned out the music. As far as sonic quality, The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East will be always tops to me. I wish I was a bit older during the 70′s to be able to go to the Fillmore East.. It must have been quite an exerience. I do not blame Bill Graham for closing down the Fillmore East back in June, 1971. Yes, rock has become way too commercialized! Keep the Fillmore East website going! You guys are doing a great job!

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:27:35 +0000

When I find them again I’ll scan them and post ‘em over to you. I have a bumper sticker too…and I think I have a pin-on button (badge). A lot of my old mementos got “misappropriated” (that’s me being nice and not saying STOLEN) when I moved … from New York to London and then moving around different locations in London. When I see something on Ebay that I used to have, I wonder if it was originally mine… Oh well, I still have my memories

By: David Gross

David Gross — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:22:37 +0000

I would be interested to see those backstage passes and post them on the site

Thanks again Beth

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:16:11 +0000

I was an almost 15 yr old music-lovin’ baby beatnik-flower child-hippie when I first walked mesmerized, down the long aisle to the front of the F.E. to absorb the music of The Doors. It was the second show presented there in March ’68. I spent many hours of the next 39 months in the place that I thought of as my second home. Hanging around the Fillmore, I became friendly with many of the people working there, getting treated to “comps” (complimentary tickets), eventually working there for a short while (upstairs selling candy).
The Fillmore East would give each of it’s patrons a type of “playbill” upon entry, to read about the bands being presented, see their picture, and advertise upcoming shows. In it were ads bought by hip and groovy local stores as well as record companies and radio stations. I was at many of the shows that you have listed above and have saved a number of those little magazines, although over the years and a couple of intercontinental moves later my collection has been reduced to only 56. My favorite issue was the special gold-colored one from the last shows–it contains pictures of all the staff at the time, from the front offices to the backstage to the ushers to the maintenance crews. Other items given out at the final shows were t-shirts, tile trivets with an imprint of the ad for the closing show, a poster naming all the groups that had played there from the very beginning until the end, and a rose on each seat of the theater. A classy ending to a funky place of joy and sweet, sweet music!
I was a cute young thing back then and became a groupie as I was seduced by the musicians making the music that seduced me! I have a bag full of backstage passes stashed around here somewhere.

By: Alex Milstein

Alex Milstein — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:29:19 +0000

I was a NY kid but spent my college and grad school years in St Louis, and only made it to the Fillmore East once. But what a night it was.

It was January 1970. I had left grad school and was preparing to go bum around Europe. While wandering thru the Village I bumped into an old high school buddy who had become something of a wunderkind playwright whose work was already being produced in NYC. We decided to go to the Fillmore. Quicksilver was headlining, with Country Joe and the Fish and a guy named Eric Mercury also on the bill.

Back in those days, St Louis was truly the backwoods, and anyone looking even slightly hippie-ish was considered suspect by the cops. So when we walked into the Fillmore lobby, which was filled with a great cloud of pot smoke, I panicked. We’re gonna get arrested! But the times were indeed a-changin, and the Fillmore, I guess, was ignored by the NYPD.

Quicksilver was amazing. This was the ‘Shady Grove’ era.