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
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]
