What started as a judo complex built for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the Nipon Budokan naturally turned into one of the most popular music venues in all of Japan, and a favorite for artists to record concerts.
Thanks to its beautiful acoustics and the fact that Japanese concert attendees are well-behaved and often quite quiet, live recordings from the 14,000 seat octagon are some of the finest to this day.
And like many things in modern music, it started with The Beatles.
In 1966, just a few years removed from the Summer Games, the Mop Tops were the first rockers to hold a concert at Budokan when they played five sold out gigs there.
read more at: Setlist.fm
