Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Exterior of venue viewed from the City Hall (c.2008)
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Location within San Francisco Show map of San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (California) Show map of California
Former names	San Francisco Exposition Auditorium (1915) San Francisco Civic Auditorium (1916–1992)
Address	99 Grove St San Francisco, CA 94102-4720
Location	Civic Center
Coordinates	37°46′42″N122°25′03″W / 37.778457°N 122.417369°W / 37.778457; -122.417369
Public transit	Civic Center
Owner	City and County of San Francisco
Operator	Another Planet Entertainment
Capacity	8,500
Construction
Broke ground	December 1913
Opened	March 2, 1915
Renovated	1962–1964, 1989–1990, 1994–1996, 2005, 2010
Construction cost	$1.7 million ($52.4 million in 2023 dollars [1] )
Architect	John Galen Howard, Frederick Meyer, John W. Reid Jr.
Tenants
San Francisco Warriors (NBA) (1964–1967)

The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (formerly San Francisco Civic Auditorium and San Francisco Exposition Auditorium) is a multi-purpose arena in San Francisco, California, named after promoter Bill Graham. The arena holds 8,500 people.

About the venue

1920 Democratic National Convention

The auditorium was designed by renowned Bay Area architects John Galen Howard, Frederick Herman Meyer and John W. Reid Jr. and built in 1915 as part of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. The auditorium hosted the 1920 Democratic National Convention, the San Francisco Opera from 1923 to 1932 and again for the 1996 season, ^[2] and the National AAU boxing trials in 1948. It was the home of the San Francisco Warriors of the National Basketball Association from 1964 to 1967. ^{[3] [4]} An underground expansion, named Brooks Hall, was completed in 1958 under the Civic Center Plaza, immediately north of the Civic Auditorium. The famous Mother of All Demos was presented here during the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, ^[5] and the World Cyber Games 2004 were also held here.

In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to rename the auditorium after the rock concert impresario Bill Graham, who had died the previous year in a helicopter crash. ^[6]

Long before Bill Graham came along, James T. Graham (no relation) managed the Civic Auditorium from 1954 to 1970 and booked some of the biggest names in show business there. During Jim Graham's tenure, the Civic Auditorium hosted Elvis Presley (October 26, 1957), Judy Garland (September 13, 1961), Ray Charles, the Tijuana Brass, Donovan, the Jefferson Airplane (June 4, 1966), the Mamas and the Papas (October 10, 1966), The Temptations and Gladys Knight & the Pips (January 26, 1968), Jose Feliciano, Bobby Darin and more, which prompted San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen to opine that the Board of Supervisors had named the Civic Auditorium after the wrong Graham (January 12, 1993).

Jim Graham signed the Warriors to a contract at the Civic in 1962 when they first moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco. The Warriors would play their first few seasons at the Civic before they moved to the Cow Palace, a larger venue. Jim Graham was manager of the Auditorium when Brooks Hall was built as an adjacent, underground convention center. He also managed Brooks Hall after its dedication on April 11, 1958, and booked American Medical Association conventions, the Harvest Festival, the San Francisco Gift Show and more.

Under Jim Graham's management, the Civic Auditorium also hosted Barnum & Bailey circuses, the San Francisco Roller Derby, Golden Gloves Boxing matches, professional wrestling, Holiday on Ice, the Ice Capades, car shows, the International Dog Show, the Black and White Ball and the Folderol. In addition, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke there on August 23, 1956, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republican Party, and a fundraising gala was held there on June 1, 1968, for Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy, four days before he was assassinated in Los Angeles. At the time, the Civic Auditorium was ground zero in San Francisco for conventions and entertainment events. There were no other major venues for large gatherings outside of the Cow Palace, which was considered ill-equipped for such events (despite the fact that it was larger).

Later, the Civic Auditorium arena would continue to host concerts by many other famous artists, spanning many different genres. It is owned by the City and County of San Francisco and since 2010 has been operated by Another Planet Entertainment. ^{[7] [8]}

Concerts

Date	Artist	Opening act(s)	Tour / Concert name	Attendance	Revenue	Notes
May 14, 1965	The Rolling Stones		1965 1st American Tour			[9]
February 14, 1982	Prince	Zapp and Roger, The Time	Controversy Tour			[10]
February 15, 1982
March 29, 1982	J. Geils Band	U2	October Tour			[11] [12]
March 30, 1982
June 17, 1982	Elton John		Jump Up Tour	6,713 / 6,713		[13]
April 3, 1983	Kiss	Mötley Crüe	Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour			[14]
June 1, 1983	U2		War Tour			[15]
December 15, 1984	U2		The Unforgettable Fire Tour			[16]
April 23, 1985	Madonna	Beastie Boys, Run DMC	The Virgin Tour	8,500 / 8,500	$127,500	[17]
September 25, 1985	Y&T		Down For The Count Tour
March 30, 1988	Kiss	Anthrax	Crazy Nights World Tour			[18]
October 2, 1993	Luis Miguel		Aries Tour
April 13, 1996	Oasis	Third Eye Blind	(What's the Story) Morning Glory? Tour			[19]
January 26, 1998	Oasis	Cornershop	Be Here Now Tour			[20]
November 4, 1999	Blink-182		Loserkids Tour			[21]
November 25, 1999	Kid Rock		Devil Without a Cause Tour
October 13, 2001	Bob Dylan		Never Ending Tour 2001			[22]
September 16, 2004	Beastie Boys	Talib Kweli	Pageant Tour			[23]
September 17, 2004
November 24, 2004	Green Day	New Found Glory, Sugarcult	American Idiot World Tour			[24]
July 15, 2006	Pearl Jam		Pearl Jam 2006 World Tour			[23]
July 16, 2006
July 18, 2006
October 16, 2006	Bob Dylan	Kings of Leon	Never Ending Tour 2006			[25]
October 17, 2006
October 29, 2006	Snoop Dogg					[23]
November 7, 2006	Pet Shop Boys		Fundamental Tour			[23]
November 20, 2006	Tenacious D	Neil Hamburger	The Pick of Destiny Tour			[26] [27]
March 1, 2007	Snow Patrol		Eyes Open Tour			[28]
April 9, 2007	Muse		Black Holes and Revelations Tour			[29]
September 27, 2007	Arctic Monkeys		Favourite Worst Nightmare Tour
December 13, 2009	Lady Gaga	Kid Cudi, Semi Precious Weapons	The Monster Ball Tour	17,000 / 17,000	$840,960	[30]
December 14, 2009
April 9, 2011	Rise Against		Endgame Tour
June 8, 2011	Bruno Mars	Mayer Hawthorne & the County	Hooligans in Wondaland Tour			[31]
December 10, 2011	Sara Bareilles		Kaleidoscope Heart Tour			[32]
August 17, 2012	Phish		2012 Summer Tour			[33]
August 18, 2012
August 19, 2012
October 17, 2012	Bob Dylan/Mark Knopfler		Bob Dylan Tour with Mark Knopfler 2012			[34]
October 18, 2012
February 13, 2013	Swedish House Mafia		One Last Tour			[35]
February 14, 2013
February 15, 2013
February 16, 2013
February 17, 2013
April 27, 2013	The Killers	The Felice Brothers	Battle Born World Tour			[36]
April 28, 2013
August 2, 2013	Phish		2013 Summer Tour			[33]
August 3, 2013
August 4, 2013
December 7, 2013	Macklemore & Ryan Lewis	Talib Kweli, Big K.R.I.T.	The Heist World Tour			[37]
March 29, 2014	Robin Thicke		Blurred Lines Tour
April 18, 2014	Lana Del Rey		Paradise Tour
April 19, 2014	Ellie Goulding	St. Lucia	The Halcyon Days Tour
October 10, 2014	The Weeknd	ScHoolboy Q Jhené Aiko	King of the Fall Tour
October 11, 2014
September 16, 2015	Zedd		True Colors Tour	17,016 / 17,016	$765,720
September 17, 2015
October 13, 2015	Janet Jackson		Unbreakable World Tour	10,172 / 10,172	$1,131,847
October 14, 2015
December 27, 2015	Dead & Company		Dead & Company 2015 Tour	17,032 / 17,032	$1,277,400
December 28, 2015
March 27, 2016	Fall Out Boy	Finish Ticket, Awolnation	Wintour is Coming	7,300 / 7,300	$385,995
May 28, 2016	Macklemore & Ryan Lewis		An Evening with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
October 21, 2016	Chance the Rapper		Magnificent Coloring World Tour
April 15, 2017	The xx		I See You Tour
April 16, 2017
April 17, 2017
May 5, 2017	The Chainsmokers	Kiiara Grandtheft	Memories Do Not Open Tour	17,000 / 17,000	$1,445,000
May 6, 2017		Kiiara Kyle
June 17, 2017	Kehlani		SweetSexySavage World Tour
October 4, 2017	Gorillaz	Vince Staples Danny Brown	Humanz Tour
January 22, 2018	St. Vincent		Fear the Future Tour
February 1, 2018	Queens of the Stone Age	Eagles of Death Metal	Villains World Tour
May 5, 2018	Khalid	PrettyMuch	Roxy Tour
May 6, 2018
September 7, 2018	Shakira		El Dorado World Tour
October 20, 2018	Arctic Monkeys	Mini Mansions	Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Tour
October 21, 2018
November 8, 2018	Brockhampton		I'll Be There Tour
April 22, 2019	The 1975	Pale Waves	Music for Cars
May 29, 2019	Billie Eilish	Denzel Curry	When We All Fall Asleep Tour
June 28, 2019	Carly Rae Jepsen	Mansionair	The Dedicated Tour
July 25, 2019	Robyn	Troye Sivan	Honey Tour	5,620 / 5,620	$446,811
October 27, 2019	Lizzo	Empress Of	Cuz I Love You Too Tour
October 28, 2019
November 11, 2021	Playboi Carti		King Vamp Tour
May 3, 2022	Lorde	Remi Wolf	Solar Power Tour
May 27, 2022	Olivia Rodrigo	Chappell Roan	Sour Tour
October 4, 2022	Rosalía		Motomami World Tour
October 23, 2022	Lil Nas X		Long Live Montero Tour
August 4, 2023	(G)I-dle		I Am Free-ty World Tour
June 6, 2023	Melanie Martinez		PORTALS Tour
October 29, 2023	Kim Petras		Feed the Beast World Tour
November 23, 2024	Aurora	Biig Piig	What Happened to the Earth?

See also

• List of convention centers in the United States
• List of tennis stadiums by capacity

References

1. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
2. "Civic Auditorium Comes Up in the World / S.F. Opera opening moves to 'the Bill'". Opera Reference. September 7, 1996. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
3. "1964-65 San Francisco Warriors Schedule and Results". Basketball Reference. Archived from the original on March 15, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
4. "1965-66 San Francisco Warriors Schedule and Results". Basketball Reference. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
5. "About the Mother of All Demos". Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
6. "Today in Music: a look back at pop music". United Press International. October 13, 2002. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
7. Wildermuth, John (July 1, 2010). "Let's make a deal". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved July 31, 2017.
8. Knight, Heather (August 25, 2015). "Heavy secrecy surrounds upcoming event at Civic Auditorium". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on August 28, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015. John Gavin, project manager for the city administrator's office, said the city makes roughly $100,000 from Another Planet Entertainment annually on the deal.
9. "ROLLING STONES TOUR / The Stones Around the Bay". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
10. "When Prince Rocked the Bay Area". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
11. "U2 October Tour". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
12. "U2 October Tour".
13. "Elton John 1982 Concerts". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
14. "On this date in 1983:".
15. "1983-06-01 - San Francisco, California - Civic Auditorium". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
16. "U2 Unforgettable Fire Tour". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
17. "Virgin Tour Poster SF". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
18. "March 30, 1988". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
19. "Oasis at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco (04/13/1996)". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
20. "Oasis Gets Help From San Francisco Audience". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023.
21. "Blink 182 - 11/4/99 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
22. "OCT 13, 2001 San Francisco, CA Bill Graham Civic Auditorium". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
23. "Bill Graham Civic Auditorium". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
24. "Green Day in San Francisco, USA - Nov 24, 2004". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
25. "Bob Dylan 2006 SF Poster". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
26. "Tenacious D with Neil Hamburger". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
27. "USA - Tenacious D Perform in San Francisco". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
28. "Snow Patrol in Concert - San Francisco CA". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
29. "Apr 9 2007 #MuseHistory".
30. "Photos: Lady Gaga at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, SF, 12/14". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
31. "Bruno Mars And Janelle Monae In Concert, San Francisco, California". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
32. "SARA BAREILLES - SAN FRANCISCO".
33. "Bill Graham Civic Auditorium- Phish.net". phish.net. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
34. "Bob Dylan Croaks the Blues at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 10/18/12". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
35. "EVENT RECAP: SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA "ONE LAST TOUR" AT BILL GRAHAM CIVIC AUDITORIUM".
36. "Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 28.04.2013". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
37. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Auditorium". Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.

Events and tenants
Preceded by Cow Palace	Home of the San Francisco Warriors (with War Memorial Gymnasium) 1964–1966	Succeeded by Cow Palace
Preceded by Mission Hills CC Rancho Mirage	Davis Cup Final Venue 1979	Succeeded by Malá Sportovní Hala Prague