VOA – Heavy Rock Festival (formerly VOA Fest and Vagos Open Air) is an open-air heavy metal/

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

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held annually in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

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. 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 Vagos () is a town and a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Aveiro District, belonging to Centro Region, Centro Region of Portugal. The district capital, Aveiro, Portugal, Aveiro, is its nearest large city. Its population in 2011 ...

, 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 Seixal () is a Portugal, Portuguese city and municipality, located in the district of Setúbal District, Setúbal, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon region, Lisbon. Its population includes 184,269 inhabitants (2011), in an area of that includes ...

, 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. A few months later, the municipality of Vagos ensured the creation of a new heavy metal festival in the city, named Vagos Metal Fest. 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

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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."Slipknot atuam em julho em Lisboa no Voa - Heavy Rock Festival"
lipknot will perform in July in Lisbon at Voa - Heavy Rock Festival(in Portuguese), '' Diário de Notícias'', 23 October 2018. Retrieved on 23 October 2018. In 2022, the last and final festival took place in Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras.

Lineups

2009

The year of 2009 saw the first incarnation of the festival, a two-day event held on Friday, 7 August and Saturday, 8 August at GD Calvão's football ground (Campo de Futebol Padre Batista) in the village of Calvão, near Vagos.

2010

The 2010 edition was held on Friday, 6 August and Saturday, 7 August.

2011

The 2011 edition was held on Friday, 5 August and Saturday, 6 August.

2012

The 2012 edition was held on Friday, 3 August and Saturday, 4 August.

2013

The 2013 edition was held on Friday, 9 August and Saturday, 10 August. The festival was moved to Quinta do Ega, a place in the city of Vagos.

2014

The 2014 edition saw Vagos Open Air became a three-day festival with the addition of Sunday. It was held on Friday, 8 August, Saturday, 9 August and Sunday, 10 August.

2015

The 2015 edition was held on Friday, 7 August, Saturday, 8 August and Sunday, 9 August. It was the final edition in the municipality of Vagos.

2016

The 2016 edition was held on Friday, 5 August and Saturday, 6 August, returning to a two-day lineup. The festival was renamed VOA Fest and moved to Quinta da Marialva, a place in the city of Corroios, Seixal. A new festival called Vagos Metal Fest was created exactly on the same location of the past editions.

2017

The 2017 edition returned to a three-day format. For the first time, the festival was held on two stages, as a new secondary stage was added (exclusive to Portuguese bands). It was held on Friday, 4 August, Saturday, 5 August and Sunday, 6 August.

2019

The 2019 edition will return once again to a two-day format. Renamed to VOA – Heavy Rock Festival, it will be held on Estádio do Restelo, in the city of

, on Thursday, 4 July and Friday, 5 July. 2022 The last and final 2022 edition happened in Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, on Thursday, 30 Jun, Friday, 1 July and Saturday, 2 July

External links

Prime Artists official website

VOA official website

References

{{Music of Portugal Music festivals in Portugal Heavy metal festivals in Portugal 2009 establishments in Portugal Music festivals established in 2009 Annual events in Portugal Summer events in Portugal