Janis Joplin With Big Brother Open The Fillmore West 46 Years Ago

It was on this day July 16,1968 that Bill Graham opened one of the most famous rock concert venues of all time the Fillmore West in San Francisco. Up until this time the hall went by the name the Carousel Ballroom. Big Brother & the Holding Company and Sly & the Family Stone were on the bill that night. If you were a rock artist back then the Fillmore West was a most stop to perform at.

The Grateful Dead could have been called the house band, they played 64 times at the Fillmore West from 1968 to 1972.

Here’s Bill Graham being interviewed by Bob Costas in 1991 talking about those early days.