Page Places: The Fillmore East

So for this installment of Page Places were headed back to New York City to check out the renowned Fillmore East.

Located in the east village neighborhood of New York City, the Fillmore East was opened by Rock and Roll Impresario Bill Graham on March 8th, 1968. Graham had already owned and operated another venue in San Francisco dubbed the Fillmore, thus upon the opening of his new venue in New York City, Graham decided to extend the name to his newest theater. It didn't take long for the Fillmore East to become the destination for rock groups to perform at along tours through the east coast of America. The Fillmore East was indeed quickly dubbed "The Church of Rock and Roll"

Graham operated the venue as a two show, triple bill theater that had acts slated seven days a week. Many, of the most notable groups that were active during the years the Fillmore East operated performed here at one point or another. Jimi Hendrix recorded his live album "Band of Gypsys" at the venue, Cream, The Who, The Doors, and even John Lennon also performed at the Fillmore East at one time or another. The Allman Brothers Band headlined so often at the Fillmore East that they were dubbed, "Bill Graham's House Band" and recorded their seminal album "At Fillmore East" live at the theater.

"The Allman Brothers Band Live At Fillmore East"

Alas, the Fillmore East closed it's doors for the last time on June 27th, 1971, due to the expansion of the market for Rock and Roll music, and the requirement for larger venues than the 2,500 seat theater could accommodate. As a prime example of this necessity, at the time of the Fillmore East's closure Led Zeppelin was regularly selling out Madison Square Garden, a venue ten times the size of the Fillmore East.

Jimmy Page first played there while it was known as the Village Theater with the Yardbirds on August 6th, 1967. This was shortly after Jeff Beck had left the group and Jimmy was performing as the solo guitarist. He would later go on to play at the Fillmore East four times with Led Zeppelin. The first two occasions were on January 31st, and February 1st of 1968-1969 opening for Iron Butterfly.

Ad for Led Zeppelin's appearance at the Fillmore East

 Here is also a silent clip from the show on the the 31st:

Led Zeppelin would play at the Fillmore East on May 30th and 31st later on in 1969.

Jimmy Page at the Fillmore East in May 1969

As a person with great interest in the history of Rock and Roll, I had to visit the site of the Fillmore East, so in 2008, while in New York City, I decided to do just that. I knew the address for the venue, Second Avenue, near East 6th Street by doing a little research, so I asked my dad, who I was visiting while on leave from the Army if we could swing by, to which he consented.

We drove to the site, and I was a bit dismayed to learn that the place that had been formerly "The Church of Rock and Roll" was now a branch of the Emigrant Savings Bank. Nevertheless, I stepped out of the car and made my way across the street. It was past closing time when we got there and I was disappointed that I couldn't enter the building but just being there and imagining the marquee, and thinking about all the great music that emanated from the interior was truly astounding. I took a picture of the building and stood outside for a bit of time. Seeing my father growing a bit impatient at me staring at a bank, I made my way back to his car and we took off for dinner. It was a really great experience, and I do recommend people visiting it, but don't make the mistake I did, go during the day. The Fillmore East is truly a Rock and Roll temple!

Picture I took outside of the former home of the Fillmore East