The beach has claimed another first-time music festival this year.
Ocean Way, the beachfront Santa Monica music fest, has been canceled just two weeks before debuting. The two-day event was set for Sept. 26-27.
Goldenvoice, the promoter behind Ocean Way as well as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, announced the news Friday in an email from its ticketing platform AXS.
“Due to the impacts of Hurricane Marie, the City of Santa Monica has canceled the inaugural Ocean Way festival,” organizers said in a statement. “Storm surf and runoff has caused significant beach erosion and the festival can no longer be safely held as planned. Plans are already underway to bring the festival back to Santa Monica in 2027.”
Tickets, which ran from $249 to $2,250, will be refunded within five to seven business days.
Hurricane Marie, spurred by the current “Super El Niño” weather pattern resulting from warming waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, severely damaged coastal areas from Malibu to Long Beach and Dana Point
“I am deeply saddened that severe weather and beach conditions have forced the City and Goldenvoice to make this difficult decision. However, the safety of festival-goers, our residents and the Pier must remain our priority,” Santa Monica city council member Dan Hall said in a statement to The Times. “With Hurricane Marie also causing sinkholes in Malibu and triggering home evacuations in Long Beach due to rising surf, the rapid erosion of the beach near the Sandbox event space over the past few days is deeply concerning. The City is working rapidly to keep the Pico storm drain and shoreline repaired and ready for upcoming weather.”
“While we are all disappointed,” Hall said, “I remain optimistic about bringing Ocean Way back next summer.”
The fest was slated to have headline sets by the Killers and Olivia Dean, along with Khruangbin, Sublime, Jack White and many others.
Goldenvoice announced the festival in July, with high hopes that it would open up the waterfront to more public events and concerts in Santa Monica, and establish a new marquee festival on the west side of Los Angeles. Santa Monica’s retail and nightlife scenes have struggled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the festival, which promoters touted as car-free, would have set a precedent for transit-oriented concertgoing.
“We’ve got to take a chance on new things,” Goldenvoice concert producer Nic Adler told The Times in August. ”There is pressure. I think the city wants it, but that takes a little bit of risk and trying something new.”
“We really cannot keep doing the same things that we’ve always done and expect for Santa Monica to shine,” Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis said in an earlier interview. “We have to invite people back to our city. We have been yearning to get back a big music festival on our beach to showcase the city, because the beach is our best asset.”
The festival is the second major beachside concert to go down this year. The inaugural LA Jazz Festival on Dockweiler Beach was canceled on what would have been its opening day, after its finances and permitting fell through.
Climate change and weather damage have become a major concern for festivals. Bonnaroo, in Tennessee, announced last month that the festival will take 2027 off to repair the grounds, after heavy storms canceled sets and prompted evacuations this year. Stagecoach, the country music festival on the same site as Coachella, also temporarily shut down this year due to strong winds.
The post Ocean Way, the Santa Monica beach festival, canceled due to impact of offshore hurricane appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
