Fillmore Auditorium (Denver)
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The Fillmore Auditorium (often known as The Fillmore Denver) is a concert venue located in the
Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
neighborhood in
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Since opening in 1907, the venue has hosted numerous functions both private and public. It holds the title of the largest indoor venue for
general admission In live entertainment, there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators—including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes which are most commonly used, though there are no hard and fast rules and alter ...
seating in Colorado. The venue also holds an exclusive dual Minors with Adults Liquor License in Colorado for a private venue; it allows minors and consumers over 21 to stand together, rather than having to be separated by their ages. In 2006, local newspaper ''
Westword ''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...
'' awarded the venue the "Best Place to Run into a
Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
turned
Yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
". The venue also houses an office for the Bill Graham Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides music grants.


History

In 1907, the venue opened as the Mammoth Roller Skating Rink, becoming a prominent after-school hangout for the nearby East High School. After the
roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...
closed in the spring of 1910, the building was occupied by the Fritchle Automobile & Battery Company. During its tenure as a manufacturing plant, the venue produced nearly 500 vehicles, the first being purchased by
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
survivor
Molly Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She unsuccessfully encouraged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris ...
. The plant closed in October 1917. The building remained unoccupied for several years until it was purchased by Irving Jacob and became the city's first recreational center. Known as Mammoth Garden Roller Club, the center offered
ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...
,
hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, ice polo,
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
, and
wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
. During this time, it also became the home venue for the Mammoth Garden Dodgers (which was a part of the Colorado Roller Hockey League) and a professional basketball team before the construction of the
Denver Coliseum Denver Coliseum is an indoor arena, owned by thCity and County of Denver operated by itsDenver Arts & Venuesand located in Denver, Colorado. The arena holds 10,200 people and was built from 1949 to 1951. The coliseum is located in Denver's Elyria ...
. The venue also served as a temporary wedding hall before and during World War II. It also housed the famed "Skating Vanities" during its 1945–46 season. The venue also hosted the first hockey event broadcast on Armed Forces Radio Services. Every Thursday, games from the venue were broadcast by KLM at
Lowry Field Lowry Air Force Base (Lowry Field in 1938–1948) is a former United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base during World War II and a United States Air Force (USAF) training base during the Cold War, serving as the initial 1955–1958 si ...
. It also hosted the US National Indoor Figure and Speed Championships in 1950, 1952 and 1954. In 1960, the venue hosted its first concert by soul singer
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
. As business began moving to the Denver Coliseum, the venue closed and became a warehouse for the Colorado Mercantile Company for five years, closing in 1967. The building was purchased in 1968 by
concert promoter Tour promoters (also known as concert promoters or talent buyers) are the individuals or companies responsible for organizing a live concert tour or special event performance. The tour promoter makes an offer of engagement to a particular artist, ...
Stuart Green, who shortened the name to Mammoth Gardens. The venue was converted from an ice rink to a
nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...
. His hopes were to compete with Bill Graham and his Fillmore franchise. The venue worked closely with
Barry Fey Barry Fey (1938 – April 28, 2013) was an American rock concert promoter from Colorado who was best known for bringing prominent music acts to the United States for the first time. Early life Music career Barry Fey's first concert w ...
to bring national touring acts to the Denver scene. Although only in business for eight months, the club hosted concerts by the decade's leading artists including
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,
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and
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. The club closed in October 1970 as a push by city officials to have the venue closed to improve the surrounding neighborhood. The building reopened briefly in 1976 as a
farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
, known simply as The Market; however, this only lasted four months. In 1981, the venue was reopened under the "Mammoth Gardens" moniker to host sporting and music events while also servicing as a private meeting room and banquet hall. After 14 months, the doors closed once again due to a dispute among its partners. Four years later, the venue was purchased by Manuel and Magaly Fernandez. After some renovations, the venue became the Mammoth Events Center. During this reinvention, the venue became the main site for Denver's Latin music scene and various other touring acts. During its 12-year run, the venue hosted various concerts, with such names as
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, Sublime,
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and many others. It also hosted various sporting events over the years including the
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and
World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...
. The venue was sold by the Fernandezs in February 1999 to Bill Graham Presents. Later, that entity combined forces with
Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...
, and the venue re-opened as the Fillmore Auditorium. This was met with controversy among the Colorado audience and luminaries, many of whom felt Denver had an ample amount of music venues. The Magness Arena,
Ogden Theatre The Ogden Theatre is a music venue and former movie theater in Denver, Colorado, United States. Located at 935 E. Colfax Avenue in the neighborhood of Capitol Hill, it was built in 1917 and has a maximum capacity of 1,600 for concerts. It is list ...
, Paramount Theatre, the Music Hall at LoDo and the
Gothic Theatre The Gothic Theatre is a former movie theater turned music venue in Englewood, Colorado. It was built in the 1920s and revitalized in 1998. Since the theater re-opened in 1998, it has held an abundance of events, ranging from local concerts to pr ...
were already claiming fame to Denver's mid-size concert scene. Due to its many physical changes and uses over the years, some promoters saw the venue as a failure and were not easily persuaded to host a concert at the venue. Promoter Barry Fey, who preferred not to use the venue, stated the unpopular opinion that "hell" had better connotations than "Mammoth". Despite its challenges, the building was heavily renovated between November 1998 and May 1999, relocating the stage, fixing the acoustics and adding many amenities. The inaugural concert was performed by the
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on May 19, 1999. The Fillmore has grown to become a prominent force in Denver's music scene. Since its 1999 opening, the auditorium has hosted concerts by
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, as well as
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's final performance. Since then the venue has hosted over 1,900 acts including a visit by President Barack Obama and all together attended by 2,700,000 patrons. The Fillmore annually ranks as one of America's top 10 grossing and attended clubs in both ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' and ''
Pollstar ''Pollstar'' is a trade publication for the concert and live music industry. The publication was purchased by Oak View Group, a venue consultancy founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff, in July 2017. History and profile Founded in 1981 in Fre ...
'' magazines. In 2017 the Fillmore began an ambitious remodel, the first of its scope in over a decade. Some of the updates included increasing the size of the artist backstage, green rooms, showers, furniture, TVs, and adding a full service kitchen that serves artists and crew nightly. Another big upgrade has been the addition of over 50 men's and women's bathrooms. The changes have come with glowing reviews from the ''Denver Post'', ''Billboard'', ''Pollstar'' and more.


References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Denver Music venues in Colorado Music of Denver Sports venues in Denver Live Nation Entertainment Music venues completed in 1999 Tourist attractions in Denver 1999 establishments in Colorado