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Annie Cheung

It is a little out of the way, but a new concert venue in the New Territories may be just what the Hong Kong music scene needs now that Kitec (the Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre) is no more.
Located inside Go Park Sai Sha in Ma On Shan, AXA Dreamland is a 24,000-square-foot (2,230-square-metre) entertainment arena that can accommodate up to 1,500 people and has 850 fixed seats. The closest MTR station is Wu Kai Sha.
Developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), the new space is designed to meet the market need for small- to medium-sized indoor performance venues.
For over a decade, Kitec’s 600-seat “Music Zone” was the launch pad for many local independent musicians and rising stars, from My Little Airport to boyband Mirror.

A consortium led by Billion Development and Project Management will turn the complex into prime office space as part of a HK$20 billion (US$2.6 billion) redevelopment plan.
AXA Dreamland can easily pick up where the Music Zone left off. The space has already hosted 11 music concerts and fan meetings since its late-April soft launch.
Artists came mainly from around the region, including Taiwanese singer Shou, Japanese alternative rock band Hitsujibungaku and Thai singer Korapat Kirdpan.
Daniel Cheung, chief marketing officer and partner at Yiu Wing Live, a local concert promotor, says the new venue is ideal for up-and-coming performers as there is less pressure for them to fill a large concert hall, meaning they face a lower financial risk.
“It is very suitable for those rising stars,” Cheung says. “The reason behind [the] name is for those who have dreams to use [the venue] as a starting point and later, maybe, they can hold shows in bigger venues like the Hong Kong Coliseum and the AsiaWorld-Expo.”

Yiu Wing Live is helping to oversee cultural planning and operation at AXA Dreamland.
Besides hosting Asian artists, Cheung says the venue has been in talks with Western artists for the 2025 concert schedule.
Bridgette Chui, senior project manager at SHKP, adds that the venue is perfect for fan meetings as artists and fans can be closer to each other, leading to more interactivity such as shaking hands and taking photos.
Hong Kong’s live concert scene is gradually recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both “Cantopop King” Aaron Kwok Fu-shing and popular Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lala Hsu have upcoming concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, in August and September, respectively.
Meanwhile, the MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok has announced 14 concerts and entertainment shows for the coming months, including Japanese rock duo Love Psychedelico (August 17), Taiwan-based Chinese singer Della Ding Dang (September 21) and British singer Anne-Marie (October 3).
Asia-World Expo is hosting some 30 concerts this summer, from American singer Conan Gray (August 27) and Icelandic singer Laufey (August 29) to major K-pop acts (G)I-dle (August 23-25) and Super Junior (September 6-7).
Even though [Go Park Sai Sha] has not been officially opened, we already attracted around 1,000 attendees every weekend [to AXA Dreamland]
Daniel Cheung, CMO and partner, Yiu Wing Live
This recovery is also reflected at AXA Dreamland, which is booked until December.
“Almost every week [AXA Dreamland] can host one to two shows,” Cheung says, explaining that some of the artists who perform at the venue do not mind having the same production set-up as previous shows, enabling more to be held.
In the pipeline is a fan meeting with Choi Young-jae, the main vocalist of K-pop idol group Got7, in September, and a concert by Hong Kong poetic pop music duo Per Se, in November.
The Hong Kong government has been pressing the “mega-event economy” since the 2024-25 budget, in the hope of attracting overseas visitors to boost tourism and economic growth.
Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said in May that the Hong Kong mega-event line-up will attract 1.7 million visitors to Hong Kong by the end of 2024 and add HK$4.3 billion to the economy.

Hong Kong welcomed an average of 2.7 million mainland Chinese tourists every month in the first half of 2024, according to government figures.
So far, around 70 per cent of AXA Dreamland’s concert attendees have come from mainland China.
Being close to the border, AXA Dreamland could be a new hotspot for Chinese tourists.
“Even though [Go Park Sai Sha] has not been officially opened, we already attracted around 1,000 attendees every weekend,” Cheung says.
“It has boosted the food and beverage business nearby, plus the stores [in Go Park Sai Sha] will be fully opened in the near future … I am confident in the ‘fan economy’.”


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Hong Kong gigs

Taiwanese singer OSN (in white vest) during a concert at AXA Dreamland at Go Park Sai Sha in Ma On Shan, Hong Kong, on the weekend of July 27, 2024. Photo: Yiu Wing Live

Taiwanese singer OSN (in white vest) during a concert at AXA Dreamland at Go Park Sai Sha in Ma On Shan, Hong Kong, on the weekend of July 27, 2024. The venue could become a platform for local independent musicians and rising stars in the wake of the closure of Kitec’s Music Zone. Photo: Yiu Wing Live

AXA Dreamland can accommodate up to 1,500 people. Photo: Elson Li

(From left) Daniel Cheung, chief marketing officer and partner at Yiu Wing Live; Judy Chow, general manager (sales and leasing) at SHKP; Bridgette Chui, senior project manager at SHKP; and Grant Yuen, senior project manager at SHKP, at AXA Dreamland. Photo: Elson Li

Go Park Sai Sha in Ma On Shan. Photo: Elson Li

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Senyawa formed in 2010 in Yogyakarta, in Java, Indonesia. Photo: WKCDA

Kung Chi-shing, head of contemporary performance, performing arts at West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Photo: May Tse

Senyawa will play pieces from their latest album, Vajranala, during their upcoming show at Freespace Noise Fest. Photo: WKCDA

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Kung of WKDCA says Senyawa’s performances are “both modern and ancient”. Photo: WKCDA

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Kitec’s Music Zone was a launch pad for bands including Mirror - can the 1,500-person-capacity AXA Dreamland in Ma On Shan fill its shoes?


The 1,500-person-capacity AXA Dreamland at Go Park Sai Sha in Ma On Shan could soften the blow of the loss of Kitec’s 600-seat Music Zone, where bands including Mirror launched their careers.
