Music venue

Shibuya AX

Shibuya AX

CC BY-SA 3.0

Venue

Shibuya AX

Type
Music venue
Also known as
Shibuya-AX, SHIBUYA-AX
Opened
December 2000
Closed
May 31, 2014
Capacity
1,697
Location
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan · map
Website
http://www.shibuya-ax.com/

Shibuya-AX (stylized as SHIBUYA-AX) was a concert hall in Tokyo, Japan, near the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Recorded Here

Recorded or filmed here, from this catalogue:

History

Translated from the ja.wikipedia article SHIBUYA-AX (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 106939800.

Overview

Shibuya AX was operated by Nippon Television Network Corporation (日本テレビ放送網) and Dentsu Inc. (電通). It opened as a temporary facility on a parking lot at the National Yoyogi Stadium (国立代々木競技場), which was leased from the Japan Sport Council (日本スポーツ振興センター). Its inaugural performance was held by Dragon Ash on December 16, 2000.

It opened as a temporary facility because the area surrounding the National Yoyogi Stadium was also designated as a Category 2 Medium-to-High-Rise Exclusive Residential Zone, where entertainment facilities could not be constructed. It was mainly used for live performances by musicians and artists popular among young people.

There were few live music venues with a capacity of more than 1,500 and fewer than 2,000 people in an all-standing configuration. In Tokyo in the first half of the 2000s, only this venue and the former Akasaka BLITZ had such a capacity. When Akasaka BLITZ was closed from September 2003 to March 2008 due to TBS's redevelopment project, Shibuya AX temporarily became the only live music venue of this scale, and the number of performances held there increased.

However, concerns were raised that it was unrelated to sports promotion and that, despite being a temporary facility, it had operated for more than ten years. During the administrative project review in autumn 2010, it was also criticized as being undesirable because it existed for work outside its intended purpose.

As a result, the Japan Sport Council decided to close the venue in October 2012, and all operations ended on May 31, 2014. The building was demolished and the site was returned to a parking lot.

During its operation from 2000 to 2014, it hosted 3,671 performances and attracted a total of 4.4 million visitors.

The facility name AX was derived from Nippon Television's call sign, “JOAX-TV”; it was unrelated to “axe”, which has the same pronunciation.

Facilities

The venue had two above-ground floors, with a double-height hall. The first floor could be configured in either an all-standing or seated style and included food and beverage stands. The second floor had fixed seating, with standing space and space for temporary seating behind the seats; this could be altered depending on the nature of the performance.

The first-floor area had a barrier separating the stage from the audience area, as well as another barrier running parallel to it in the center of the floor. The rear section was raised, with the PA area located in its center. There was sufficient space for people to pass between the frontmost barrier and the stage, allowing security personnel and cameras to enter.

The stage was relatively high, allowing the stage to be seen even from the rear of the first floor.

The maximum capacity was 1,697 people across the first and second floors in an all-standing configuration, and 757 people across both floors in a seated configuration.

There were no coin lockers inside the building; all were located outside.

The nearest stations were Harajuku Station, Meiji-jingumae Station, and Shibuya Station.

Until 2004, AX MUSIC-TV, broadcast on Nippon Television, aired information on live performances at SHIBUYA-AX.

Sources

  • Wikidata entity Q619000.
  • en.wikipedia, Shibuya-AX (revision 1372264991), CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • ja.wikipedia, SHIBUYA-AX (revision 106939800), CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Photograph: SHIBUYA-AX.jpg on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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