Take a virtual tour through the Fillmore East circa 1970
Close your eyes and take yourself back in time. It’s 1970, and you’re in the heart of New York City, nestled in the East Village neighbourhood of Manhattan. You’ve got a few bucks in your pocket, and you want to see one of the biggest and best rock acts of the time. Surrounding you is an eclectic assortment of businessmen, hippies, suburban kids, Hells Angels, members of the Grateful Dead, and hardened city dwellers. Chances are good that a well-quaffed man is frantically trying to shuffle people around. There’s only one place you can be: the Fillmore East.
After Bill Graham had turned the Fillmore Auditorium into San Francisco’s home for psychedelic rock, he intended to do the same in New York. He found the perfect opportunity in an abandoned movie theatre that started its life as a Yiddish theatre, a strangely appropriate venue for a German-born impresario who escaped the horrors of Nazi concentration camps two decades prior.
Graham’s philosophy for the Fillmore East was simple: give audiences as much music as possible. Bands were required to perform both early and late shows without exemption. Graham loved to pair up disparate performers to bring in diverse crowds. With a lighting and sound system that was second to none in the United States, just about every major rock act circled through the Fillmore East at different times.
Now, content creator Keith Mueller has created a virtual reconstruction of the venue based on the original theatre’s blueprints. Walking in through the small entrance, the Fillmore East had a long hallway that eventually opened up into a massive 2,500-seat theatre. With a large capacity and cutting-edge lights and sound, the Fillmore East became the go-to venue for everyone from the Led Zeppelin to the Allman Brothers Band, the latter of whom recorded their iconic At Fillmore East at the venue. Frank Zappa’s infamous Fillmore East was recorded at the venue too.
The walkthrough pays particular attention to the Joshua Light Show. Illuminating virtually every concert that took place in the venue, the Joshua Light Show added psychedelic colours, swirling projections, and wild visuals to performances. The team set up behind the projection screen, separated from both the band and the audience. With only basic projectors and liquid lights, the team created some of the most intense visual experiences at the peak of the psychedelic era.
Take a tour through the Fillmore East down below.
