Tap Needs Adjusting

The new 6,000-capacity Tap 1 venue built in the former bottling plant of Copenhagen’s historic Carlsberg Brewery may struggle to attract major acts unless it can make a little more room for them.

There’s plenty of space in the 4,600-square metre main auditorium, but a floor-to-stage clearance of 8 metres (26 feet) means most acts capable of filling the place would have to cut their production down.

“Ten metres is a problem if you need 12, and so 8 metres is a bigger problem,” Live Nation Denmark chief Flemming Schmidt told Pollstar. “If the stage is a metre-and-a-half high, then you’re down to 6 and a half metres.”

Schmidt said it’s a good, well-situated venue that LN will be happy to place bands in, but he stressed it would involve making the act’s production team fully aware of the problems it’s likely to face.

Kim Worsoe from ICO said he took a close look at putting on two acts in Tap 1 but moved elsewhere because of the production problems.

Tap 1 sales and marketing director Jakob Smith Knudsen said the venue is investigating the possibility and costs of raising the roof and says he’s hopeful of seeing something done about it by the end of 2010.

Tap 1, which is also the name of the private company behind the new venue development, has spent 10 million Danish kroner ($2 million) converting the building and has already lined up shows for popular Swedish rock act Kent, Danish rock singer Thomas Helmig and U.S. metal band Machine Head.

Apart from staging live bands in front of a standing audience, the room also has a 4,500 capacity for seated shows and conferences and can seat 3,200 for a dinner.

Situated on the borders of the central urban districts of Vesterbro, Valby and Frederiksberg, Tap 1 is easily reachable by public transport.