The inaugural Ocean Way Festival in Santa Monica has been canceled just weeks before its planned debut, organizers announced Friday, after surf and storm runoff connected to Hurricane Marie drastically reduced the amount of beach space safe to use.
The two-day event was scheduled for September 26-27 on the beach in Santa Monica, California, and was expected to combine live music with food, wellness, sustainability and local beach culture. The Killers, Olivia Dean, Jack White and Khruangbin were set to headline, with Sublime, Durand Jones and the Indications, Alvvays, 54 Ultra and others also on the bill. The festival was being put on by the same promoters behind Coachella and Stagecoach.
In a social media announcement, organizers said the conditions left the site unable to safely support the stages, equipment and infrastructure required for the event. The City of Santa Monica also confirmed the cancellation, citing beach erosion caused by the storm. Storm surge from Hurricane Marie and drain runoff eroded a large portion of the beach where the festival was to take place.
Refunds for tickets are being processed automatically, organizers said. Plans to bring the festival to Santa Monica next year are already underway, though there has been no update on whether the lineup for next year's event would change.
The cancellation adds to a difficult summer for live music events contending with extreme weather. Katy Perry's headline performance at the 55,000-capacity Werchter Boutique was canceled earlier this year due to severe thunderstorms. She later posted online, «I am sorry I can't change the weather, and even sorrier that all of us can't be together tonight.»
Fred Schneider, vocalist with The B-52's, described his band's experience at The C Trop Music Festival in Tilloloy, France, as «a total disaster,» with their set canceled minutes before performance time. Bonnaroo organizers have also said extreme conditions over the past few years led them to decide to take a break in 2027 so the festival grounds can recover.
For Santa Monica, the loss of the festival's debut represents both a cultural and economic setback for a beachfront community that had positioned the event as a celebration of local coastal culture. The festival's combination of music, wellness and sustainability programming was designed to draw visitors to the city's shoreline, and its cancellation leaves a gap in the late-September calendar.
Organizers have not indicated whether any elements of the planned program might be rescheduled or relocated. The focus now shifts to next year's proposed edition, which would depend on the beach's recovery and the organizers' ability to secure the site again.
The episode also highlights a growing tension for coastal festivals: as erosion and severe weather become more frequent, the infrastructure demands of large-scale events are increasingly difficult to guarantee on natural shorelines. For fans who had planned travel around the debut, automatic refunds offer some relief, but the broader question of how beachfront festivals adapt to a changing climate remains unresolved.