The Central Music & Entertainment Festival, often referred to simply as Central, is an annual music festival, first held in 2025. It is organized by the Central Executive Committee and produced by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. With the concept of "bringing the sounds of Japan to the world", it is held for three days in April at four different venues in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture—K-Arena Yokohama, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, KT Zepp Yokohama, and Rinko Park. Later, the festival expands to New Taipei, Taiwan, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Concept
The Central Executive Committee chose Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture for the festival due to the city's numerous music venues, with a variety of scales and characteristics, from arena-sized to live house-sized. Aligning with the event's concept of "bringing the sounds of Japan to the world", another reason is that the city has long been known as a port city since the Meiji era. The festival's key visual uses a simple square frame, symbolizing a shipping container, as Japan's connection to the world and also its commitment to sustainability, and everyone can repaint the frame with their own colors.
History
On December 23, 2024, the Central Music & Entertainment Festival was announced. It was scheduled to be held over three days, from April 4 to 6, 2025, at four different venues throughout Yokohama: K-Arena Yokohama, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, KT Zepp Yokohama, and Rinko Park, alongside the first lineup. Each venue would feature a different artist lineup. On January 30, 2025, Central announced Echoes Baa stage, hosted by record label Echoes at Red Brick Park Special Venue, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse. The next day, the festival formally announced three other stages: Central Stage at K-Arena Yokohama, Vival and New Gene Fest at KT Zepp Yokohama. Ticket sales for each venue and a one-day "all venue pass" began on the same day.
On March 11, it was announced that Central Field, a free-admission entertainment area, would be hosted at Rinko Park. The festival also partnered with Yokohama City and Yokohama City Visitors Bureau for the #Central_Yokohama campaign for photo spots throughout the city. The Vival stage was live-streamed via Stagecrowd, while otherwise through The First Take YouTube channel. The archive footages of all stages, except Vival, was released on April 7 and available for one week. In addition to Japan, Central also took place at Zepp New Taipei, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Zepp Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 19 and 26, 2025, respectively.
The 2026 edition of Central Music & Entertainment Festival was announced on December 23, 2025, alongside its first lineup, and scheduled to take place between April 3 and 5, 2026. Three stages from the first edition—Central Stage, Echoes Baa, and Central Field—remained in 2026 and to be held at the same venues, while KT Zepp Yokohama hosted the new stage Central Lab. Ticket sales available on January 20. All stages also broadcast live through The First Take YouTube channel. and re-broadcast in late April for one week. The festival also collaborated with the small music festival Live! Yokohama, which held the same period and the same city, Hinatazaka46's Miku Kanemura for Kioku no Kakera exhibition, etc. The New Taipei and Kuala Lumpur shows returned on August 1 and 8, 2026, respectively.
Stages and areas
Current Central Stage (K-Arena Yokohama) – the main and largest stage, featuring representative Japanese artists and their collaborations Echoes Baa (Red Brick Park Special Venue, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse) – Echoes-organized stage, featuring both in-house and outside artists Central Field (Rinko Park) – free admission entertainment area, including food, anime talk stages, character booths, and technology experiences, etc. Central Lab. (KT Zepp Yokohama) – an experimental stage which evolves from various perspectives and combinations
Former Viva (KT Zepp Yokohama) – collaborative stage between VTubers and real-world artists New Gene Fest (KT Zepp Yokohama) – new-generation artists' stage
Summary + Year Date City Country Venue Lineup Attendance 2025 April 4 Yokohama Japan K-Arena YokohamaYokohama Red Brick WarehouseKT Zepp YokohamaRinko Park 80,000 1,500,000 April 5 April 6 April 19 New Taipei Taiwan Zepp New Taipei April 26 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Zepp Kuala Lumpur 2026 April 3 Yokohama Japan K-Arena YokohamaYokohama Red Brick WarehouseKT Zepp YokohamaRinko Park 90,000 April 4 April 5 August 1 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Zepp Kuala Lumpur 2,000 August 8 New Taipei Taiwan Zepp New Taipei
References
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