Taipei Arena
| Taipei Arena (臺北巨蛋) | |
|---|---|
| Mini-Big Egg (小巨蛋) | |
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| Location | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Opened | 2005 |
| Owner | Taipei City Government |
| Operator | Taipei City Government |
| Architect | Various |
| Capacity | Main Stadium - 15,082, Auxiliary Stadium - 800 |
| Tenants | |
| Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League | |
Taipei Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Taipei, Taiwan. Built in 2005, the large multi-purpose stadium can accommodate major international sport events such as ice skating, ice hockey, gymnastics, handball, basketball, tennis, badminton, table tennis, indoor soccer, boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo and wrestling. It is currently operated by the Eastern Media Group (東森集團), which won the bid to operate the arena for nine years. However, the Eastern Media Group is involved in the bid scandals. Taipei City Government has cancelled the right of operation.
The Zhongshan Soccer Stadium is Taipei's football-specific stadium that hosts the Chinese Taipei national football team.
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[edit] Building
It was designed by Archasia, an architectural firm established in Taipei (now Populous, a Kansas City, Missouri (USA) design architectural firm). It is located at the site of the former Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium (built in 1958, opened 1959, demolished 2000). The arena was opened on December 1, 2005. The main arena has an adjustable floor space: its minimum floor space is 60m × 30m, and can be extended to 80m × 40m.
The Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League (CTIHL) plays out of the auxiliary arena, which is a 60m × 30m ice skating rink. The basement now houses two large gas turbine power generators to be used for the surrounding district during emergencies.[1]
[edit] Events
Since opening in 2005, the arena has held more art and cultural activities (such as live concerts) than sporting events, which it was originally designed and built for. These have included Disney on Ice and Cirque du Soleil, Cats the Broadway Musical. [2][dead link]
- Show Luo was the first singer to hold his concert in the Taipei Arena.
- Taiwanese pop star Jolin Tsai (2006 November), Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung's "Snow Wolf Lake," (2007 March 24).
- Olivia Newton-John played Taipei Arena on April 21 and 22, 2007 on her Asia exclusive Body Heart & Spirit Tour.
- Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki's Asia Tour, which had more than 10,000 tickets sold out in 1 hour.
- Taiwanese Aborigine pop star Chang Hui-mei's STAR TOUR world tour.
- Backstreet Boys played Taipei Arena on March 2, 2008 as part of their Unbreakable Tour.
- Taipei Arena played host to the inaugural ceremony and celebrations of President Ma Ying-Jeou and Vice-President Vincent Siew on May 20, 2008.
- On October 8, 2009, Taipei Arena hosted the first ever NBA game in Taiwan. The two teams were the Indiana Pacers versus the Denver Nuggets.
- Korean boyband SS501 held their 1st Asia Tour Persona Concert in Taiwan on October 17, 2009, becoming the third korean artist to perform in Taiper Arena.
- Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit held their concert on the 24th and 25 October 2009 for the first time in the Taipei Arena. Their concert is made into a DVD (Fahrenheit's Fantasy World Tour Taipei Special).
- Japanese singer Namie Amuro filmed her tour here for the DVD release of Best Fiction Tour 2008-2009
- Taiwanese pop star Elva Hsiao played Taipei Arena on December 31, 2009, and less than 12 hours later her mother died.
- American super boy band Backstreet Boys played Taipei Arena on February 25, 2010 during the Asian leg of their This Is Us Tour.
- Super star Coco Lee hold her "East to west world tour" concert in Taipei Arena on March, 27, 2010.
- On April 24, 2010, Rainie Yang's first ever concert, named "Whimsical World" was held in Taipei Arena. Her concert tickets were sold out and received great responses from her fans and other Taiwanese artists such as Wilber Pan, Wu Chun, Mike He, Jiro Wang, Ariel Lin and Jerry Yan.
- Show Luo also known as "Asia's Dancing King" held his concert (Dance Storm 舞法舞天) in the Taipei Arena on the 15th of May 2010. He is the first ever artist who held 3 concerts in 24 hours. For this concert's theme, he also broke a record which is becoming the first ever artist with a 3D music video for his song Dance Storm 舞法舞天. This concert can be viewed in 3D by using a naked eye.
- Korean pop boy band Super Junior held their two sold-out concerts on February 20&21 2010 as part of their Super Junior 2nd ASIA tour, Super Show 2 Tour and also performed in Taipei Arena on March 11, 12 & 13, 2011 as part of their Super Junior 3rd ASIA Tour, Super Show 3 Tour.
- Jay Chou "Young Heavily King of Pop" Kick off The Era World Tour in Taipei Arena. This is the first time Jay had ever held a concert in Taipei Arena since he normally held his concert in a outside venue. Jay kicked off his tour by holding 3 consecutive day in Taipei Arena. June 11, 12, and the 13 of 2010.
- Japanese pop boy-band KAT-TUN held two concerts on August 27&28, 2010 as part of their All-Asia No More Pain tour. It was made into a DVD a few months after.
- Korean pop girl group Girls' Generation held two concerts as part of their Into the New World Tour in Taipei Arena on October 16 & 17, 2010.
- Crowd Lu performed in Taipei Arena on December 18, 2010. The concert, named "Good Morning & Good Evening," was his first performance in this arena. The concert started at 10:00 a.m., followed by a lunch break and a movie screening in the afternoon, and started again at 7:30 p.m.
- Jolin Tsai kicked off her Myself World Tour. She held 3 consecutive concerts in Taipei Arena on December 24, 25 and 26, 2010, in which sold out all 3 shows.
- Eason Chan performed in Taipei Arena on January 14 & 15, 2011, as part of his DUO Tour.
- Faye Wong performed in Taipei Arena on January 21, 22 & 23, 2011, as part of her successful comeback tour.
- Bob Dylan played at the venue during his Never Ending Tour on April 3, 2011.
- Irish-American dancer and musician Michael Flatley reprises his role as Lord of the Dance in the Feet of Flames 2009 tour held in the arena
- Girls Generation set a new record for being the first foreign girl group to have the honor of performing three consecutive concerts as part of their second solo concert tour Girls Generation Tour from September 9 to September 11, 2011.
[edit] References
- ^ "Taipei Arena". http://portfolio.populous.com/projects/taipeiarena.html. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ "又來了 小巨蛋沒有LED計分器" (in Chinese). China Times. 2007-03-14. http://news.chinatimes.com/2007Cti/2007Cti-News/2007Cti-News-Content/0,4521,11051203+112007031500296,00.html.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Taipei Arena |
- Taipei Arena official website (English)
- CIHL official website (English)(Chinese (Taiwan))
Coordinates: 25°03′02.55″N 121°33′0″E / 25.0507083°N 121.55°E
