Megaport Music Festival

The Megaport Music Festival (Chinese: 大港開唱; pinyin: Dàgǎng Kāichàng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tōa-káng khui-chhiùⁿ) has been held in Kaohsiung every year since 2006, with five exceptions.

Megaport Music Festival
大港開唱
1976 performing at the Megaport Music Festival in 2016
GenreRock and independent music
DatesUsually March
Location(s)Kaohsiung
Years active2006–present; not held in 2008, 2009, 2014, 2019, or 2020
FoundersTaiwan Rock Alliance (Freddy Lim, Doris Yeh)
Websitewww.megaportfest.com

History

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The music festival, founded in 2006 by Taiwan Rock Alliance, was co-organized from 2010 to 2012 by The Wall, a live house owned by Freddy Lim and based in Taipei, with branches in Yilan and Kaohsiung.[1][2] The festival was planned with fans of rock music located in southern Taiwan in mind and has traditionally taken place in March,[3][4] but has been held in other months throughout the year.[5] Over time, Megaport grew in size and came to dominate the southern Taiwan music scene, no longer considered an "offshoot" of the older Formoz Festival.[4][6]

The Megaport Music Festival was not held in 2014, due to a disputed takeover bid.[7] The Wall's CEO bought out the other founders, one of whom was Freddy Lim, who claimed that the rights to the Formoz and Megaport Festivals had not changed hands.[8] Lim managed to retain the rights to both music festivals, and both returned in 2015.[9] The originally scheduled twelfth iteration of Megaport was cancelled in 2019, as the mayoral administration of Han Kuo-yu sought information on financing for the eleven previous festivals.[10] After the recall of Han Kuo-yu and subsequent election of Chen Chi-mai, the festival was rescheduled for 2021.[11] During the 2021 Megaport Music Festival, livestreamed performances were available.[12] Chthonic released a live album of their performance at the 2021 festival.[13] The thirteenth edition of Megaport was held in early April 2022.[14][15]

Megaport has featured many Taiwanese musicians, including Deserts Chang, Elephant Gym, 9m88, Fire EX., Enno Cheng, Huang Fei, 1976, and Sunset Rollercoaster[16][17] as well as international groups, such as 65daysofstatic and Grizzly Bear.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ Chen, David (4 March 2011). "A weekend of pier madness". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. ^ Chen, David (9 March 2012). "Mega-rockin'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  3. ^ Frazier, David (20 March 2015). "Live Wire: Battling music festivals: Megaport vs T-Fest". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  4. ^ a b Frazier, David (8 March 2013). "Live Wire: Mega Port grows up". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  5. ^ Brownlow, Ron (26 October 2007). "Killer weekend for Halloween". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  6. ^ Loa, Lok-sin (3 March 2011). "Singer calls for action, not words in music promotion". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  7. ^ Frazier, David (10 October 2014). "Live Wire: The festival wave". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  8. ^ Frazier, David (24 January 2014). "Live Wire: Lunar New Year line up". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  9. ^ Frazier, David (2 January 2015). "Live Wire: Last year's live music scene". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  10. ^ Huang, Chia-lin (13 September 2019). "Megaport music festival canceled". Taipei Times. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  11. ^ Hsu, Li-chuan; Yang, Yi-han; Chung, Jake. "Megaport Music Festival's return delights fans, artists". Taipei Times. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  12. ^ "CHTHONIC to Headline Massive MEGAPORT FESTIVAL This Weekend". Outburn. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  13. ^ Enis, Eli (7 May 2021). "SEE CHTHONIC PLAY "SET FIRE TO THE ISLAND" AT TAIWAN'S 2021 MEGAPORT FESTIVAL". Revolver. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  14. ^ "8 Questions You Wanna Ask about Megaport Festival". TaiwanPlus. Central News Agency. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  15. ^ Wang, Yvonne; Hsu, Kama (6 April 2022). "Megaport: Taiwan's Iconic Music Festival". TaiwanPlus. Central News Agency. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  16. ^ Henley, Joe (25 March 2016). "Live Wire: Chthonic to headline Megaport". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  17. ^ Chen, David (19 March 2010). "Port of call". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  18. ^ Chen, David (3 March 2011). "Day after day". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  19. ^ Frazier, David (7 December 2012). "Live Wire: Get Spiritualized". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
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