TLA dubbed Fillmore by Live Nation

Upper Darby native Todd Rundgren is in for a surprise when he performs next week on Philadelphia's infamous South Street-the marquee will no longer read The Theatre of Living Arts but The Fillmore Philadelphia, come his April 27 show.

The Fillmore name first surfaced in the 1960s with the concert promoter and venue founder Bill Graham. His Fillmore San Francisco club has a rich history, most notably helping along the early careers of many local artists like Grateful Dead, Santana, and Jefferson Airplane.

With the conversion of the TLA in Philadelphia and Irving Plaza in Manhattan, Live Nation, a subset of the Clear Channel Entertainment Group, hopes to bolster a second live music brand to complement its 11 House of Blues clubs scattered across the country.

"The Fillmore is a highly regarded music venue whose impact on music resonates far beyond the walls of the actual building itself," said Bruce Eskowitz, Live Nation's Chief Executive Officer of North American Music. "By adapting some of the Fillmore traditions to such a strong venue, we hope to make the concert experience even better for Philadelphia music fans."

But the Philadelphia music fans that Live Nation is trying to impress might not be as open to the change as the company would like.

"I guess we can all thank corporate branding," said Alex Gross, an aspiring singer/songwriter from Philadelphia's Roxborough section. "I don't understand why everything has to be a chain today."

Other regulars to South Street fear that their memories will be refurbished along with the venue.

"I was down on South Street the day they were painting over the TLA sign," said Lindsay Kerins, a student at Immaculata University and a long time patron of the venue. "It was kind of a sad thing to see because to me it's been the TLA forever."

The outside of the venue is not all that is changing. Come the inaugural show in late April, concertgoers will be treated to apples to satisfy their stomachs and collectible posters to foster memories as well as a brand new interior consisting of chandeliers and deep red painted walls littered with vintage posters and newspaper clippings, will chronicle the venue's famous past acts.

The distribution of apples and providing concert goers with limited edition commemorative posters has long been associated with the Fillmore name. No other venue in Philadelphia has been known to do such things, marking a definite change for the local music scene.

"Nobody really likes changing things they're familiar with," said Jameson Parker, a DJ for Philadelphia's Y-Rock radio station on WXPN. "These are nice traditions but I don't know if people will really appreciate it all."

The Theatre of Living Arts, an integral part of the South Street experience and defining characteristic of the artistic aspect of Philadelphia, has been everything from a late night rep-film cinema to director and actor Andre Gregory's experimental counter-culture theater and now survives as an acclaimed live music venue.

The classic theater-like venue has been a catalyst in the careers of several local Philadelphia artists including The Roots, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, and G. Love & Special Sauce. For nearly 20 years, the TLA has also played host to memorable intimate shows from the music industry's biggest artists like Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Jane's Addiction, and Radiohead.

Many Philadelphians jump at any chance to put their adored city on the map using whatever tactics available. But some are pessimistic about the Fillmore name invading the city, wishing that Philly would stop welcoming such commercialism and stick with the uniqueness that it is best known for, especially on South Street, which is considered by many to be an artistic haven for everyone from punk rockers to hipsters like Alex Gross and his band.

"What happened to hidden, unique, holes in the wall?, said Gross. "When big, commercial companies take over, the whole definition of what live music means to people changes."