Megaport Festival
Megaport Festival was founded in Kaohsiung in 2006 by the organizer of Formoz Festival: 1995-2013, a music festival in Taipei. The two festivals, Megaport and Formoz, respectively originating from the South and the North are pioneers of current Taiwanese music festivals. Megaport, one of the most iconic outdoor music festivals in Taiwan, is held in late March every year, and it’s welcoming its 15th anniversary this year.
Megaport is held near the Port of Kaohsiung. With its one-of-a-kind harbor landscape and local custom, Megaport has become a place that always brings back old memories for the locals. The festival brings well-known artists and experienced performers to its stages, inviting them to collaborate with artists or bands from the new generation, and further triggering chemical reactions among different generations. Megaport had invited He Yi-Hang from The Golden Night Club, Chau-Sang Anthony Wong, who had played Tai Fei in Young and Dangerous Film Series, Noriko Sakai, a renowned Japanese teen idols in the 90s, Wen-Cheng Shen, the performer of the song “Who Knows My Mind”, and the award-winning actor/singer who starred in A Boy Named Flora A, Tsai Chen-Nan. What’s more, Wu Bai, who performs “Dust of Angels”, and Jin-Yan Jeannie Hsieh, known as Taiwanese National Sister, had also performed for Megaport Festival.
LIFEMUSIC
Under the theme of “life” and “music” of Megaport Festival, the audience gets to resonate the ups and downs in their life experience with a variety genres of music: unique indie music, powerful rock and hip-hop, enchanting pop songs, etc. Looking back on the past few years, Megaport had invited both local and foreign artists to its stages. Local artists, for examples, Sorry Youth, Nine one one, No Party for Cao Dong, Fire EX, Leo Wang, Sunset Rollercoaster, CHTHONIC, Amazing Show, Flesh Juicer, Accusefive, Jo-Hsuan Vivian Hsu, Crowd Lu, Sin-Je Angelica Lee, Sandee Chan, 9m88, Enno Cheng, etc. had all performed at Megaport. As for international artists, Megaport had brought YURA YURA TEIKOKU, QUEEN BEE, 10-FEET, envy, coldrain, SiM, Ali, Balming Tiger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, SE SO NEON, Crystal Lake and so on to its stage as well.
With over a hundred sets of performers collaborating with different special guests, every year, Megaport surprises its fans and creates memorable days that belong only to this Southern Harbor City.
Meanwhile, Megaport Festival makes the most of its geographic location advantage as a harbor city, building around 10 stages, big and small, indoor and outdoor. The festival features SOUTHERN OVERLORD, a giant outdoor stage built at the pier, stage DRAGON KING and stage LARUS CANUS in the warehouse, stage DAIYU MARU on the cruise, stage WE SHALL OVERCOME on the warehouse rooftop and NÂ PÓ CHIŌH, a cabaret show stage. DOU NAO RE, the stage built in 2023 at the gourmet area will also give its new look in 2024 Megaport Festival.
In 2021, Megaport first activated the giant outdoor square in Kaohsiung Music Center, bringing back its second largest stage, DRAGON GODDESS. In 2023, the third largest stage, DRAGON KING was moved indoors to the venue of the Music Center. Back in 2006, when the very first Megaport Festival was held, and also when there was no Kaohsiung Music Center, the first outdoor DRAGON KING stage was located exactly at the same location as the nowaday Music Center. After defining locations for stage DRAGON GODDESS and DRAGON KING, Megaport further expanded its scope to the entire New Bay Area of Kaohsiung Harbor. With its spectacular bay harbor view and a good amount of traffic, Megaport has become the most anticipated event in March every year.
Moreover, to make more visitors enjoy and have them create more joyful memories, Megaport also builds a few other themed zones for visitors, including KIDS ZONE for children, MEGAFUN zone with karaoke, Cyber Mosh-Pit, Photobooths, etc. During the festival, food trucks and selection markets will too be seen on site. Also, Megaport has never stopped its attention on the environment and the society, actively encouraging discussion over social and public issues. Aside from setting up promotional booths for NGO organizations, Megaport cares about sustainable development and eco-friendliness. Several water refill stations and dishware and utensils recycling stations are set up on site. At the same time when participants are enjoying the music, they are not only here to participate, consume and get entertained, they are also encouraged to realize the social responsibility they hold, to ponder over it and to put it into practice in their daily life.
People come and go just like the rising and ebbing tides. Sometimes we say hi, and sometimes we say goodbye. For 15 years, Megaport has been with its many audiences through different chapters and phases in their life, bringing to them a lot of unforgettable memories. Megaport is beyond a mere representative music festival in Taiwan, but is also a “festival of life” for many people.
We always experience a lot in life. Sometimes, what we see en route brings influences and impacts to our life, leaving strong impressions in our minds. When we’re rushing through our every day, sometimes we are on our own, and sometimes we have partners. However it is, at this same old place, we always get to see our real friends. With a simple eye contact, we know it’s time to run, to yell, to scream, and to buttom up the beer in our hands. No extra words needed, this is life.
