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Making your favourite band’s repertoire the soundtrack to your homework is a bit special - experiencing them live for the first time is something else.

A music gig is an event like no other. Not only are you looking forward to the set list, the atmosphere beforehand and the anticipation from the audience gives it a whole new dimension.

It’s especially interesting when the concert takes place in a remarkable venue - whether it’s one partly formed by a meteorite striking the Earth, or another recognisable from one of the most popular films of all time - as ����ý Bitesize discovers.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion: Singing beneath a sea of ribbons

Millennium Park in Chicago is home to an intricate web of steel pipes that lead up to an impressive stage adorned with a mass of stainless steel strips that curl upwards, almost like false eyelashes.

This unforgettable piece of architecture is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Designed by the famed architect Frank Gehry, who was also responsible for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, it was completed in 2004 and can accommodate an audience of approximately 10,000 people.

Aimed at recreating the atmosphere of an indoor venue outdoors, the pavilion has 4,000 regular seats and its 95,000 sq ft (approx 8,826 sq m) lawn area for visitors can bring attendance closer to the 10,000 figure.

Strict building regulations on the park’s green space mean the pavilion has to be classed as a work of art rather than an actual building. The steel pipes which stretch out over the audience include a sound system, through which have been played performances by Idina Menzel, Hozier and Flight of the Conchords, among others.

Dalhalla: Performances of meteoric proportions

Around 360 million years ago, a meteorite struck the Earth, close to what is now known as Rattvik in Sweden.

The crater made by the impact formed Lake Siljan. Millions of years later, it became the site of a limestone quarry and the venue was carved from this stone in the 1990s. The vertical walls are said to provide ideal acoustics and the nearby lake allows concertgoers to admire the natural beauty alongside their favourite artists.

Although it is used mainly for opera performances, Dalhalla has welcomed acts as diverse as Bjork, Kraftwerk and Tom Jones.

Felsenreitschule: How do you solve a problem like a big pit?

If you’ve snuggled up on the sofa at Christmas with a nice box of chocs and The Sound of Music on the telly, you’ll remember the tense finale as the Von Trapp family prepare to flee an Austria that has fallen under Nazi control.

The concert Maria, the Captain and the children use as a cover to get away was filmed at Felsenreitschule in Salzburg. The distinctive venue with its row-upon-row of arches wasn’t built with music in mind, as its name will suggest to any German speakers - it translates as ‘rock riding school’. Its history dates back more than three centuries when the building materials needed for the construction of Salzburg Cathedral were excavated.

All that digging left a large pit behind and an archbishop spotted its potential as a site to train soldiers on horseback. The tiered archways were originally for spectators watching equestrian shows taking place below.

It was later on that the site’s stage was used for cultural events such as plays and opera. Felsenreitschule is now one of the venues for the Salzburg Festival.

Budokan: Where Olympians of music perform

In October 1964, Tokyo hosted the summer Olympic Games, welcoming 93 competing countries.

The Budokan was built for the Games, with construction completed on 3 October, just one week before the Opening Ceremony. Judo made its debut at the Games in 1964 and the Budokan would host the event, ‘budō’ being a Japanese word that encompasses the nation’s martial arts, such as sumo, kendo and aikido, as well as judo.

The Budokan hosts martial arts events to this day - including the 2020 Tokyo Games (which were rescheduled to 2021). It also has another life, as a respected concert venue. In 1966, The Beatles played their first Japanese date there, although the concert did not pass without controversy as band member George Harrison remembered in the 1995 Anthology documentary: “People were demonstrating because the Budokan, where we were playing, was supposed to be a special spiritual hall reserved for martial arts.”

Nevertheless, the Budokan has gone on to become a popular music venue, welcoming some of the biggest names in the industry, including Diana Ross and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In March 1980, it hosted the final dates of Abba’s last international tour.

Minack theatre: Cornwall, without walls

On the cliffs of south-west Cornwall, ravaged by many weathers, is a performance space that has been drawing crowds since the early 1930s.

The theatre was created, and partly built, by Rowena Cade - a woman passionate about the arts - who moved from London to Cornwall in the early 1920s. Minack - which means a ‘rocky place’ in its Cornish form meynek - was her land that she bought for £100. A house was built there first and, as she became involved with the local arts scene, she offered the cliff garden as a venue for an open-air production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in 1932.

A performance and seating area was established at Minack. Rowena and her team used hand tools, rather than the mechanical equipment available at the time, to carve the rocks as required - with dynamite used when absolutely necessary. Any concrete needed was mixed with sand from the beach which Rowena carried up to the Minack site in sacks.

The end result was an impressive arena which today welcomes more than 250,000 visitors each year. The programme is varied, but concerts by choirs and folk bands can be found on a regular basis - often taking place beneath the Cornish stars.

This article was published in January 2024