Megaport Music Festival 大港開唱 | |
---|---|
![]()
1976 performing at the Megaport Music Festival in 2016 | |
Genre | Rock and independent music |
Dates | Usually March |
Location(s) | Kaohsiung |
Years active | 2006–present; not held in 2008, 2009, 2014, 2019, or 2020 |
Founders | Taiwan Rock Alliance ( Freddy Lim, Doris Yeh) |
Website |
www |
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.
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]