Megaport Music Festival

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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
Founded byTaiwan Rock Alliance (Freddy Lim, Doris Yeh)
Websitewww.megaportfest.com

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.

History[edit]

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[edit]

  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.

External links[edit]