Stars | The Fillmore

March 5, 2015 | San Francisco

By Kimberly Maroon

Stepping into The Fillmore

The room had an intensity, a heavy energy that you could only feel.

The Fillmore was more of a spiritual experience for me. Even before I learned of the theater’s history, I felt it. This was no ordinary music hall, this was a sacred place. With a mystical, pulsing electricity throughout, it was as if the walls were radiating a living being. My chest became heavier and heavier. What is this place?

The more I looked around, the more the story began to unravel.

The Fillmore was the epicenter of psychedelic music and counterculture All the music of the 60s came from The Fillmore— Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and The Who. All the music my parents grew up with. How is it still here? Another historic music venue yes, but it was the visual artifacts from that era of music that struck a chord with me. Downstairs in the lobby and bar was like a museum with photographs of the influential artists who graced the stage. Upstairs every inch of wall space was covered—in posters. My own slice of heaven. I saw styles of poster art I had never seen before dating back before I was born.

The Fillmore is a living time capsule and the feeling it radiates is a huge part of that.

Upstairs cafe, every inch of wall space is covered in vintage poster art.

Mysteries Abound at The Fillmore

“If you stay until the end of the show you get a poster.”

A free poster for everyone? Some girl I met in the crowd had to be messing with me. Of course, I stayed until the end of the show and BOOM—a giant pile of posters was being handed out at the bottom of the stairs! Apparently, for every sold out show, The Fillmore chooses a local artist to design a poster with unique artwork. Lucky me!

The real mystery was the giant tub of apples on a table in the lobby. They were so shiny I thought they were wax at first. Then someone confirmed they were indeed real and tried to get me to take one. What?! That’s ridiculous. How do you know they’re not injected with something? (typical East Coast reaction to offerings of unpackaged food). The guy pointed at the framed sign behind them and assured me this was a tradition. Well ok. I took one to snack on while I waited for Stars to go on. Then, came back and took a second one to save for the ride home. They were pretty good. Later I learned the tradition of the apples comes from Bill Graham who would hand out apples and bid goodnight to patrons at the end of every show.

Stars

A night at The Fillmore is the crown for any band touring the West Coast. Watching Stars explode in each song they played I knew it. It was as if they absorbed all the energy of the room that I felt earlier and used it to put on an electrifying set.

I was fortunate to share the photo area with Sean Mikula a local photographer from San Francisco, originally from Buffalo, NY. He covers a lot of music events in the area for various publications. All around laid back, friendly guy. Finding out that West-Coast press photographers really are nice and I’m learning how to be nice in return or rather, remembering how.

Sean’s work is pretty awesome. Check it out here.

Write your story here. (Optional)

Amy Millan adorned in fringe calling back to Janis Joplin.

Write your story here. (Optional)

As the crowd filed out, I caught a glimpse of Roseland Ballroom. One look at the chandeliers and the dance floor and I was standing in a mirror. More often I have those moments that draw out the images from deep in my memory. Roseland Ballroom is long gone, another theater locked up in New York’s history bank.