Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:02 am
Well, it was the Fillmore West when I used to read about it in the NME as a boy - an impossibly exotic place, home to the Byrds, Sir Douglas Quintet, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Led Zeppelin, Country Joe and the Fish, the Lovin' Spoonful, Jefferson Airplane and on and on. You could positively SMELL the patchouli oil and hash just by reading about the place. Well, the music business has become more business, less music since then, but the Fillmore still lives and breathes rock and roll, if nothing else, when it gets the right combination of band and audience, and tonight, San Francisco, you rocked. Before "1000s" I said "last time we played San Francisco, George Burns was still alive" which is true. I also said that Irving Berlin was still alive, which was not true, though he was still alive the FIRST time we played the Fillmore.