 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2016) |
| VOA – Heavy Rock Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Heavy metal, hard rock and all its sub-genres |
| Dates | June–August |
| Location(s) | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Years active | 2009–2017, 2019–2022 |
| Website | voa |
VOA – Heavy Rock Festival (formerly VOA Fest and Vagos Open Air) is an open-air heavy metal/hard rock festival held annually in Lisbon, Portugal. The festival is being held since 2009 in four different locations: the first four editions, from 2009 to 2012, were held in Calvão (a small town in the municipality of Vagos, near Aveiro), the next three (2013 to 2015) were held in the town of Vagos, the following two editions (2016 and 2017) were held in Corroios, a city in the municipality of Seixal, and after a year break the festival is scheduled to return in 2019 in Lisbon. It is organized by Prime Artists, a Portuguese event promoter.
The origins of a music festival in the Aveiro region are traced to a small event, called Rock in Ria, featuring a few Portuguese and international bands, but in 2009 that event gave way to a new full-fledged international festival which turned out to be one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in Portugal.
In late 2015, it was then announced the festival would relocate from Vagos to the city of Corroios. The name of the festival was also changed from Vagos Open Air to VOA Fest.[1]
A few months later, the municipality of Vagos ensured the creation of a new heavy metal festival in the city, named Vagos Metal Fest.[2] The new festival held the first edition in 2016, featuring Dark Funeral and Helloween as headliners. It is organized by Amazing Events, a Portuguese event promoter.
In 2018, after a sabbatical year, Prime Artists announced on their Facebook page the return of the event for 2019. It will return to a two-day festival, on July 4 and 5, change name (to VOA – Heavy Rock Festival), change location and venue (moving to Estádio do Restelo in city of Lisbon) and have Slipknot – one of the biggest names to ever perform in the festival – as one of the headliners.[3]
In 2022, the final festival took place in Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras.
- ^ "Vagos Open Air muda-se para Corroios e anuncia os primeiros nomes", Wav Magazine, 14 January 2016. Retrieved on 22 August 2017.
- ^ "Realização de Festival Heavy Metal Vagos 2016", Município de Vagos. Retrieved on 22 August 2017.
- ^ "Slipknot atuam em julho em Lisboa no Voa - Heavy Rock Festival" [Slipknot will perform in July in Lisbon at Voa - Heavy Rock Festival] (in Portuguese), Diário de Notícias, 23 October 2018. Retrieved on 23 October 2018.