[2] Richie Havens and the Blues Project were weekly regulars as well as Harvey Brooks who was bass player in residence, The Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt played frequently.
Van Morrison, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Oscar Brown Jr., the Youngbloods, the Siegel-Schwall Band, John Hammond Jr.,[3] The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Clear Light, Michael Bloomfield, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, The Chambers Brothers, Canned Heat, The Fugs, Odetta, Country Joe and the Fish, The Yardbirds, The Doors all played there.
Blues legends Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, and Big Joe Williams performed at the club after being "rediscovered" in the '60s.
Before many rock groups began performing there, the Au Go Go was an oasis for jazz (Bill Evans, Stan Getz), comedy (Lenny Bruce, George Carlin) and folk music.
[4][5] When the club was sold in 1969 it closed for over a month for renovations including upgrades to the kitchen and a new sound system installed by a then-local audio engineer Kenny D'Alessandro.
The Au Go Go Singers included Kathy King (who later toured with Bobby Vinton and appeared in the Broadway show Oh Calcutta and currently works as Kathrin King Segal), Jean Gurney, Michael Scott (who later performed with the Highwaymen and the Serendipity Singers), Rick (Frederic) Geiger (who eventually was accepted into a light opera company in California), Roy Michaels (who later performed with Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys and toured with Jimi Hendrix), Nels Gustafson, Bob Harmelink, and soloists Stephen Stills and Richie Furay.
The new quintet switched to amplified instruments, took about a week to learn new material (some under the direction of the former Au Go Go Singers arranger, Jim Friedman), named their new group The Company, and then headed for Ontario.
A three-judge panel presided over the widely publicized six-month trial, with Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964.
By 1966, the police and the courts had managed to silence Lenny Bruce and taught him a lesson that he should not use "foul language" or show disrespect for the church and the law.