Former Location –
This famous night club was originally opened by Jeff Pollack in 1976, Jeff sold it to Bill Graham who closed it for good in 1983 when he opened Wolfgang’s.
Some of the bands that played here: AC/DC , Iggy Pop, Rory Gallagher, R.E.M. , Metallica, Jerry Garcia, Pat Benetar, Dead Kennedys. Romeo Void, U2 ,The Damned, DEVO, Jim Carroll, Mutants, XTC, 999, Penetration, Avengers, The Members, Flamin’ Groovies, Wreckless Eric, Blondie, Blue Oyster Cult, Mark Naftalin, Robert Gordon, Todd Rundgren and Charlie Musselwhite.
Notable Concerts Held Here Include:
6/29/1983 – Carl Wilson
6/14/1983 – R.E.M
5/28/1983 – Dave Mason
5/15/1983 – Renaissance
4/20/1983 – War
4/17/1983 – John Kay & Steppenwolf
3/18/1983 – Tina Turner
2/12/1983 – Tower Of Power
7/20/1982 – Santana
3/14/1982 – The Tubes
12/31/1982 – Roy Orbison
7/4/1981 – Squeeze
4/30/1979 – Utopia
1/29/1978 – Journey
Old Waldorf
444 Battery Street
San Francisco CA 94111
The first time I saw Motörhead was at the Old Waldorf in 1980-They were awesome. I was 17 and dragged a couple of friends to the show (they didn’t dig it) and I became a lifelong fan that night. Had a few beers, lost my hearing in one ear for 3 days, fell in love with an older woman (from a distance) in some kinda tiger outfit-she must have been about 23. Ranger (later Night Ranger) opened. Motörhead was out of control. RIP lemmy
Saw Toto, Sammy Hagar, Tower of Power, Elvin Bishop, et al. A tremendous intimate venue. Worked at FM station KMEL at the time and had the good fortune to attend a lot of Bill Graham’s shows including the Days on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum.
Alex Bennett was the man. Hope he was decent to work with
Ah youth!!
Saw Cheap Trick right after their first album was released. Great show.
Also the Tubes, Ronnie Montrose, Eddy Money and more. Great venue, great
memories!
I was there with a friend. We sat right in front of the stage and I was absolutely blown away, Rick Neilson tried to flick a couple of his guitar picks into our beer pitcher just for fun. There was almost nobody there as I recall – they were a complete unknown in SF in March of 1977.
wow ! what a place to see a concert. doesnt get anymore up close and personel.
i saw ronnie montrose w/gamma at this place. what a show ! also, i saw, Lou Reed
on another night. man, great memories. to bad we have to grow old, right !
oh, and i saw Toto on another evening. and, Randy Hanson. theres more but……
I believe I was at that Toto concert after they released their first album. It was fantastic listening to them in such an intimate venue. Do you by chance know the date of that concert???
Saw Tom Petty when he first hit the seen, King Crimson, The Cretones, Rachel Sweet, Greg Kihn, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions etc. Remember buying dinner tickets and getting in early and the best seats ?
Rachel Sweet! That was a great night! And Lou Reed with Ian Dury as the opener!
I was a white punk from Detroit in 1978 and hit the Waldorf to see Elvin Bishop country blues . listening to him ever since!
My golden memory of that club was Average White band and Tower of Power. Tower opened the show and later the horns came out to jam with AWB for an encore. It could not have been any better. It is a shame the small clubs all go by the wayside (Bottom Line NYC, Old Waldorf San Francisco, Wolfgang’s san Francisco) and we are left with the large halls where the illegal reselling of tickets makes almost any show unaffordable. Yeah, I am 63 and long for the older days.
Johnny Winter, King Crimson, Firesign Theatre! Always the dinner ticket–even though the dinner was utter crap institutional canned spaghetti.
Johnny winter, randy hansen
Saw Gentle Giant, Warren Zevon, Richard Thompson among many artists at the Old Waldorf. I miss the place. Great venue for seeing an artists.
Saw 415 (Eric Martin) open up for Rick Derringer. The place was great, up close anywhere in the night club. Had small round cocktail tables. Never forget, I was like 17, (1979) had a 2 drink minimum, those were the days. Derringer just was “epic” that night.
Wow – Two of the biggest names from the ’70s yet you gave no mention of them.
How about Santana and JOURNEY! The Old Waldorf is where Steve Perry sang with Journey for the first time as their new lead singer. Herbie Herbert had incredible relationship with Bill Graham.
Actually, you can find links to both of them under “Artists & Bands” in the main menu, for now, here are the direct links:
Journey:
https://rockandrollroadmap.com/tag/journey/
Santana:
https://rockandrollroadmap.com/tag/santana/
I was there for Steve Perry’s first show with Journey..I swear when he walked up onto the stage,I thought he was a woman..
Always loved going to the Old Waldorf. It was so intimate. Saw Ronnie Montrose, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher,
Ian Hunter, Santana, Hawkwind, AC/DC’s second show in America, Journey’s show that introduced Steve Perry (he got booed off stage after a couple of songs), Judas Priest (Rob Halford came into the audience, i stood up and he put his arm around my shoulder and sang the rest of the song) , Randy Hansen, Greg Kihn, Earthquake and more. I loved that venue
I saw Rory Gallagher back sometime in 1978..I was so in love with him..I was in the back,and saw him come out and start walking toward the stage..I jumped in front of him,and planted a kiss on his cheek..He looked me square in the face,and smiled..I’ll NEVER forget that or him..RIP Rory,you handsome,handsome man..
Aug 29, 1981 was downtown just saw the Pretenders made my way over to the Waldorf my ride went to see Tom Waits was able to get in lady gave me her ticket because her date stood her up and she wanted to leave What a GREAT night for music !!!!!!!!!!
I saw the stray cats there. Elvis costello talks about making his San Francisco debut at Wolfgang’s. Would love to know if the landlords were assholes or bill graham wanted to make more money at his own venue. It sure didn’t last very long. kusf put on some good shows there