Ocean Way Festival Featuring Killers, Olivia Dean and Jack White Is Canceled, as Santa Monica Blames Beach Damage From Hurricane Forces

Ocean Way is going away, at least for a year. Goldenvoice‘s inaugural Ocean Way Festival, which was scheduled to take place on the beach in Santa Monica Sept. 26-27, has been called off, with city officials saying the culprit is erosion along the shore caused by recent hurricane-level forces off the coast.

“Due to the impacts of Hurricane Marie, the City of Santa Monica has canceled the inaugural Ocean Way festival,” organizers of the festival said in a statement emailed to ticketholders through AXS. “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.”

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The statement sent to ticketholders further said that refunds for passes, which had been sold in a range from $249 to $2,250, will be processed automatically in the next 5-7 business days.

The two-day festival was hoping to draw up to 45,000 to the beach each day. Single-day passes were being sold along with two-day entry, and the lineup seemed designed to possibly draw a somewhat different audience each day, with rock acts like the Killers, Jack White and Sublime topping the bill on Saturday and a more eclectic lineup headed by Olivia Dean, Khruangbin and Durand Jones & the Indications on Sunday.

In a statement given to the Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica City Council member Dan Hall said, ““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… 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, I remain optimistic about bringing Ocean Way back next summer.”

First-time beach-based festivals seem to be having a hard time of it in SoCal this year, with the inaugural LA Jazz Festival — which had a key stage set for Dockweiler Beach — having been canceled at the last minute, although the reasons given for that one had to do with finances and prep. At least anyone who wants to hear music with an ocean breeze still has an option for Eddie Vedder’s annual Ohana Fest. It takes place alongside the beach in Orange County’s Dana Point Sept. 25-27 — and, obviously, it no longer has Ocean Way as competition the same weekend.

Variety published an interview in July with Goldenvoice producer Nic Adler, son of the legendary Lou Adler, about the desire to bring music back in a big way to Santa Monica, which has hosted few big rock or pop shows since the historic Santa Monica Civic Auditorium fell into disuse.

Said Adler then, “Really where it stems from is that Santa Monica is kind of having its own revitalization moment or realignment plan, turning toward events, culture, arts and music to get people to come to the city. Santa Monica is an interesting place because it’s almost like an underdog city a little bit, in our backyard. We all know Santa Monica’s there, but I think they want to make sure that those memories stick.”

He noted, “This was a little bit like, ‘OK, we’re in Santa Monica, we’re on the beach, the sun’s setting — of course I wanna hear Khruangbin.’ The lineup took some inspiration from the location, and I’d probably say that’s not an everyday for Goldenvoice.”