The Fillmore East: New York's Temple of Rock

If the Grande Ballroom was Detroit's temple of rock, the Fillmore East was the cathedral. For three years at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, the Fillmore East on Second Avenue in Manhattan's East Village was the most important rock venue in America.

The Room

Bill Graham opened the Fillmore East in March 1968, modeled on his legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The venue occupied a former Yiddish theater on Second Avenue, seating around 2,600 in a room with excellent acoustics and an intimate atmosphere that made even the back rows feel close to the stage.

Graham ran the Fillmore East with a perfectionist's attention to detail — the sound system was state of the art, the lighting was innovative, and the booking was impeccable. He understood that the concert experience was about more than the music; it was about creating an environment where the music could be heard and felt at its best.

The Shows

The list of artists who played the Fillmore East reads like a hall of fame of late-1960s and early-70s rock. Jimi Hendrix recorded his legendary Band of Gypsys album there on New Year's Eve 1969. The Allman Brothers Band played there so often that the venue became their spiritual home — their Live at Fillmore East album, recorded there in March 1971, is widely considered one of the greatest live albums ever made. The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, and hundreds of others all performed there.

The Closure

Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East in June 1971, citing rising costs and changing times. The final show featured the Allman Brothers. The building has had various uses since — it's now a bank — but the address, 105 Second Avenue, remains a pilgrimage site for rock history lovers.

The Fillmore East New York Retro T-shirt is for everyone who knows what happened on that stage. Find it in the New York collection.