Chthonic to Headline 100 Band Live Music Festival This Weekend
As the live concert industry starts to prepare for its return, in Taiwan this weekend there will already be a massive festival featuring over 100 bands with Chthonic headlining. The Megaport Festival’s return was accelerated thanks to Taiwan’s efficiency in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chthonic’s Freddy Lim founded the Megaport Festival in 2006 and in the years since it’s grown in popularity in Taiwan. The musician left the organizing committee for the festival after being elected to Taiwan’s Parliament in 2016, but he’s decided to return this year with his longtime band leading a mostly Taiwanese artist lineup.
“We are looking forward to making this performance as perfect and memorable as possible,” says Lim, who will record his band’s set for an upcoming live album. “Since my focus at the moment remains on politics, I really wanted to participate in the very music festival that I founded.”
He explains, “We have been fortunate to have just 1,000 COVID cases in Taiwan’s population of 23 million, with only 77 local cases and 10 COVID-related deaths. Because of Taiwan’s efficiency handling the pandemic, we are able to more move forward with this festival. Everyone is excited to perform live again, and our upcoming live album will reflect that excitement.”
While the country has kept the Covid impact minimal, there are still safety precautions in place for the weekend festival. Before redeeming the entry bracelet, audience members must complete an online real-name registration process. Every audience member is required to wear a mask during performances. Moreover, the food stands and dining are separated to avoid group transmission after removing masks.
Following the announcement of this year’s festival, the event sold out 20,000 tickets in under five minutes.
Those wishing to get that festival feeling by checking out the return of live music in Taiwan can catch the main stage performances here, while the second stage will livestream at this location. The event is taking place Saturday and Sunday (March 27-28) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Chthonic’s performance will take place at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT via the main stage channel on Saturday (March 27).
A special limited “anti-epidemic bundle” including a physical CD, Chthonic medical-quality mask, a Chthonic mask lanyard, large and small Chthonic mask containers and a small Chthonic spray can for sanitizer will also be available. Information on pre-orders is forthcoming.