Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution is the first comprehensive retrospective about the life and career of legendary San Francisco rock impresario Bill Graham (1931–91). Recognized as one of the most influential concert promoters in history, Graham launched the careers of countless rock & roll legends in the 60s and beyond, among them such iconic Bay Area artists as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, at his famed Fillmore Auditorium. He conceived of rock & roll as a powerful force for supporting humanitarian causes and was instrumental in the production of milestone benefit concerts such as Live Aid (1985) and Human Rights Now! (1988).

Through memorabilia, photographs, psychedelic art, archival concert footage, video interviews, and more, the exhibition is both a deeply personal reflection on Graham’s life and an exploration of how Graham helped transform rock music into the highly lucrative phenomenon of rock theater that persists today. Treasured photographs and artifacts from Graham’s career and early life, including his childhood as a Jewish emigrant from Nazi Germany, will be on loan from the Graham family, many on view to the public for the first time. Also for the first time ever, preparatory drawings and the original artwork of many iconic Fillmore concert posters will be on display, along with stunning live performance and backstage photos of rock & roll royalty, the original apple barrel that greeted fans with fresh apples at the entrance to the Fillmore Auditorium, gifts from performers such as Keith Richards’ leather boots repaired by Graham with duct tape during the Rolling Stones’ 1981 tour, Graham’s “Father Time” costume from the Grateful Dead’s New Year’s Eve concerts, and much more.

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution is organized by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.