Fillmore East
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Fillmore East was promoter Bill Graham's rock palace in the East Village area of New York City.
Previously known as the Village Theater, it opened in March of 1968, to give Graham an East Coast counterpart to his Fillmore West establishment in San Francisco, and quickly became "The church of rock and roll," with two-show concerts several nights a week. Graham would regularly alternate acts between the two theatres; some of those acts included the Grateful Dead, The Who, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Allman Brothers Band, Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe and the Fish, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Crazy Horse and many more. It was not unusual for a band to be booked to play two shows both Friday and Saturday nights.
Many live albums were recorded at the Fillmore East, the most notable of them being At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band, generally considered one of the best live albums of all time.
Due to changes in the music and concert industry, Graham closed down the Fillmore East, with its final concert taking place June 27, 1971, with the Allman Brothers, The Beach Boys and others in performance. Frank Zappa and the Mothers also recorded a live album at the Fillmore East in June 1971, entitled Fillmore East - June 1971. It was done with The Turtles's two lead singers, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. After The Mothers of Invention finished playing "Happy Together", better known as The Turtles's most famous song, Frank Zappa had this to say:
"I know that in a way it's sad that Bill Graham is closing down the Fillmore, but I'm sure he'll get into something better. It's been lovely working for you this evening, good night boys and girls."
The Grateful Dead also released a 4-disc set taken from their 5-night stint at the Fillmore East in April Of 1971, appropriately titled "Ladies and Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead: Fillmore East - April 1971".
In 1980, the former Fillmore East site on Second Avenue in the East Village became the trend-setting private Gay Discotheque The Saint. Today (2006) the former entrance lobby is a branch of Emigrant Savings Bank, and the rest of the space, which occupies a very large portion of the block, is an apartment complex.
