It was converted for exclusive use as a music venue in 1971 by concert promoter Bill Graham and became a popular performance location for many rock acts.

[7] Starting on September 23, 1966, with a double bill of Jefferson Airplane and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bill Graham began to occasionally rent the venue, which had an audience capacity of 5,400, for larger concerts that his nearby Fillmore Auditorium could not properly accommodate.

Various popular rock acts played there, including such bands and musicians as Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, the J. Geils Band, the Who, Black Sabbath, James Gang, Kansas, Mahogany Rush, Quicksilver Messenger Service, UFO, REO Speedwagon, Queen, Slade, Boston, Cream, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Styx, Van Morrison, the Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, the Band, Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Neil Young, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Ten Years After, Wishbone Ash, Rush, Electric Light Orchestra, David Bowie, Genesis, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Sons of Champlin, Sex Pistols, Traffic, Golden Earring, Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Robin Trower, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Sha Na Na, Loggins and Messina, Lee Michaels, Heart, Journey, Deep Purple, J.J. Cale, Spirit, the Chambers Brothers, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Foghat, Mountain, B.B.

The Grateful Dead made Winterland their home base, and The Band played their last show there on Thanksgiving Day 1976.

That concert, featuring numerous guest performers including Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and many others, was filmed by Martin Scorsese and released in theaters and as a soundtrack under the name The Last Waltz.

Acts included the Sex Pistols, the Tubes,[9] the Ramones, Smokey Robinson, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and on December 15–16, 1978, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.