Notable past events include the concert of Bill Haley and accompanying riots three days after the hall's opening.

Later, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Status Quo, Rush, ABBA,[2] The Grateful Dead and many other groups included the Grugahalle in their tours.

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention gave their first concert in Germany there in front of an audience of 13,000 during the Internationale Essener Songtage [de] in 1968.

This was followed in 1969 by the Internationales Essener Pop & Blues Festival which included Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Free, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Muddy Waters, Champion Jack Dupree, the Pretty Things, Queen and Tangerine Dream.

Later that year, Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, and Franz Josef Strauß held rallies for the 1969 West German federal election.