Bill Graham Presents

In November of 1965, Bill Graham produced his first concert, a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Held in a loft, it brought together The Warlocks (later to be named The Grateful Dead), Jefferson Airplane, Lawrence Ferling, The Committee, The Fugs, Allen Ginsburg, and other elements of the San Francisco arts scene and sub-culture. The artists performed, the people danced, and the room was pervaded by an intoxicating sense of joy and freedom.

Since then, Bill Graham Presents has continued to strive to bring the best of professionalism, creativity and experience to the leisure time industry. By following the standards of ethics and excellence that were established by Bill, BGP provides enjoyment to concert audiences around the world.

Bill Graham Presents produces over 500 events each year. In addition to its presentations in the rock, country, jazz, and MOR fields, BGP has expanded its horizons beyond popular music, presenting a variety of entertainment, including theatre ("Tommy," "Rocky Horror Show," "Evita,"), dance (Twala Tharp Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre), comedy (Robin Williams, Dennis Leary, Dana Carvey, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Cosby, Sandra Bernhard, Paula Poundstone), magic (David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone), and special events (The Peking Opera, The Moscow Circus, Cirque du Soleil).

For over three decades, BGP has coordinated national and international tours wherein they assume the responsibility for the supervision of all aspects of the technical production, publicity and advertising, tour merchandising, recording, ticket and credential coordination, press and record label liaison, hotel and travel arrangements, financial and accounting services (Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Lollapalooza '92, Festival New Orleans, Jerry Garcia). The WOMAD tour, which was the most successful North American festival tour of 1995, were produced by Bill Graham Presents.

BGP is also a major producer of televised figure skating (1994, '95, '96 and '97 "Ice Wars: USA vs. The World," 1994, '95, '96 and '97 "Rock-n-Roll Figure Skating Championships," 1994 "NationsBank Festival on Ice" and gymnastics (1993 "Tour of Champion Gymnasts," 1995, '96 and '97 "Rock-n-Roll Gymnastics Championship") events. They have also acquired the North and South America tour rights for Lord of the Dance for which BGP has projected gross touring revenue in excess of $20 million in 1998.

In June of 1986, Bill Graham Presents opened the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. The Shoreline complex incorporates a 50-acre, world-class, state-of-the-art facility which showcases premier entertainment for 20,000+ patrons, amid a park-like, beautiful landscaped setting in Silicon Valley, just south of San Francisco.

BGP also books and manages the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. A historic landmark, this magnificent multi-use venue, set in authentically restored art deco splendor, houses dance, opera, theeatre and concert events, and is available for location filming, taping and photography.

AKG, an offshoot of Bill Graham Presents, is the company that handles all of the nightclub facilities. In San Francisco, AKG books and operates the historic rock and roll emporium The Fillmore Auditorium and The Warfield Theatre. AKG also operates the stylish and comfortable Punch Line comedy clubs in San Francisco and Sacramento.

Bill Graham Management provides artist development and career management for the Neeville Brothers, Aaron Neville, Black Lab, Brother Cane, Joe Satriani, Cracker, Taj Mahal, among many other signed acts.

Bill Graham Special Events offers event production, design and coordination to Fortune 500 companies, associations, and private individuals. BGSE produces all aspects of an event from talent booking, venue selection, catering, security, design and production. Our clients include: Adobe Systems, Inc., Tandem Companies, Applied Materials, Sun Microsystems, and 20th Century Fox. Recent events BGSE has produced include the Pacific Bell Groundbreaking Festivities for Pacific Bell Park and Applied Materials 30th Anniversary Celebration with performances by Bob Dylan, The Wallflowers, and Stevie Wonder.

BGP has produced and promoted hundreds of benefit events, showing a continuing interest and enthusiasm in aiding those less fortunate. By mobilizing musicians on behalf of crucial social issues, BGP has helped raise millions of dollars for diverse organizations and causes: Tibetan Freedom Condert (the highest attendance at a benefit event since Live Aid in 1985 -- also produced by Bill Graham Presents), Bridge School Benefit, Live Aid Concert for African Famine Relief, the American-Soviet Peach Concert for Nuclear Disarmament in Moscow, San Francisco's Earthquake Relief, Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope and Human Rights Now! Tours, the Nelson Mandela concerts and ralalies in California and New York, In Concert Against AIDS, and Concerts for the Advocacy of Indigenous People's Traditional and Cultural Rights.

In 1998, Bill Graham Enterprises was pruchased by SFX Entertainment, a publicly held company and the country's leading promoter abnd venue operator for live entertainment events and specialized motor events. In 1997, SFX sold over 30 million tickets to over 11,000 events. SFX is the country's largest owner or operator of venues used primarily for music concerts. Currently, SFX owns or controls 72 venues in 29 of the top 50 markets, including 15 amphitheatres in 9 of the top 10 markets. Additionally, SFX enterprises include a full-service marketing and management company specializing in the representation of team sports athletes, including Michael Jordon, t-shirt merchandising, and magazine publishing.