Photo by: Tom Tomkinson
U.S. promoter, Another Planet Entertainment Celebrates 10 Years Anniversary as exclusive operator of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (BGCA) in San Francisco.
Located in the heart of the city’s Civic Center Plaza and with a capacity of up to 8,500, over 3 million people have walked through its doors to attend concerts and events at the BGCA over the last 10 years. APE has hosted countless major pop, rock, and hip-hop/R&B acts, serving as artists’ quintessential stop for San Francisco and the Bay Area. Monumental plays over the past decade include a wide variety of world-renowned artists such as Billie Eilish, Nine Inch Nails, Lizzo, TOOL, Chance The Rapper, Vampire Weekend, Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator, The Killers, Lady Gaga, LCD Soundsystem, Sam Smith, Bob Dylan, Britney Spears, Phish, Janet Jackson, Dead & Company, Bruno Mars, Khalid, plus many more.
Comedy has been a significant draw with sold out shows by Adam Sandler and Dax Shepard, while also acting as home base for Comedy Central’s Clusterfest comedy festival, featuring the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, John Mulaney and Amy Poehler.
Over the course of the past 10 years, the BGCA has seen electronic dance music bookings increase exponentially, now making the venue a ‘must play’ for every major artist of the genre. Since 2010, artists such as ZEDD, deadmau5, The Chemical Brothers, Alison Wonderland, Marshmello, Kaskade, Flume, REZZ, Rüfüs Du Sol, Galantis, The Chainsmokers, Kygo, Disclosure, ODESZA, Hardwell, Avicii, Illenium, Pretty Lights, Skrillex, Jack Ü, Above & Beyond, Steve Aoki, Massive Attack and many more have played the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, many of which having performed multiple times. Swedish House Mafia sold out a record-breaking five nights in a row at the venue in February 2013.
EDM superstar Zedd said of the BGCA, “Bill Graham Civic is one of, if not my favorite venue in the world. Everything from its layout, the capacity, the easy load-ins and load-outs, to the unbelievable crowd energy in that room is perfect. I have been incredibly privileged to have performed at BGCA six times and I hope to continue performing in that room for many more years to come.”
An impressive roster of artists have repeatedly played the BGCA under APE’s direction, a testament to both the promoter’s hospitality and artists’ love of the venue. Those performers include Phish (14x), Furthur (8x, including 2 NYE shows), Illenium (7x), ZEDD (6x), Kaskade (5x, including 3 NYE shows), TOOL (5x), Above & Beyond (5x), A$AP Rocky (5x), Pretty Lights (5x), Janet Jackson (4x) and Steve Aoki (4x). The venue has also seen repeat annual live concert events such as CRUSH SF (6x), Wobbleland (4x) and Bay Nites (4x).
“When the city of San Francisco put out an RFP for the building, we were the only company that had the foresight to bid. At the time, the city was considering mothballing the venue — it was a white elephant that had only done a handful of events the year before we took over,” says Gregg Perloff, CEO and Co-Founder of Another Planet Entertainment. “After millions of dollars in improvements including acoustics, cosmetic updates to the ceiling, dressing rooms and more, APE has turned the venue into a jewel of the city. When the venue was reborn 10 years ago, the neighborhood was in an extremely bad state. Now, with companies like Twitter, Dolby, the city’s Department of the Environment and many condominium and apartment projects, the BGCA has become the anchor tenant of the neighborhood. We are so proud to be the steward of this building, which has now developed a long history of both musical excellence and community involvement. Here’s to another 10 years.”
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium delivers a significant and positive impact on the Civic Center neighborhood and economy and also prides itself on being a pillar of the community, hosting numerous charitable events for the San Francisco Bay Area. Major fundraisers have been held for organizations such as Tipping Point, SF Parks Alliance, and ‘Band Together 2,’ a benefit concert featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers which raised $4 million for North Bay fire relief. BGCA is proud to have partnered with Project Homeless Connect since 2010 — having hosted 76 events and counting, the event provides access to critical services for over 60,000 homeless individuals. Every holiday season, the BGCA actively participates in the SF Toy Drive, encouraging concert attendees to bring a new, unwrapped toy and has contributed 10,000+ toys to the cause.
While best known as a concert and performance venue, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium hosts a wide breadth of programming including private events, gaming and speaking engagements. Under the Private Events Division of APE, Another Planet Events has organized product launches for some of the largest companies in the world, including Apple, Samsung, Google, Facebook, Square, Twitter, Rakuten and Salesforce and has produced events for the NFL Awards, Netflix, BoxWorks and Audi to name a few. Also of note, BGCA hosted the League of Legends World Championship World Stage in 2016, a 6.5 hour-a-day gaming event that took place over the course of 8 days. Prominent speakers that have visited the BGCA include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
