Every music festival needs an origin story.Ocean Way’s starts nearly 50 years ago in a garage, the one where storied audio engineer Allen Sides began producing before founding Ocean Way Recording, the studio whose name now titles the newest large-scale music festival from the organizers of Coachella.
Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 Produced by Goldenvoice and scheduled for September 26-27, the inaugural Ocean Way Festival will transform “The Sandbox,” a 550,000-square-foot stretch of sand south of the Santa Monica Pier, into a major beachfront festival.The company has now unveiled the official lineup, which features headliners The Killers and Olivia Dean along with SG Lewis, BLOND:ISH, Austin Millz, Carlita, Nala, Coco & Breezy and Khruangbin, among others.
Prior to today’s formal announcement, EDM.com caught up with Santa Monica City Council member Dan Hall, who first introduced the motion to launch the ambitious festival, to discuss its high economic stakes for the city.“The Pier and the businesses, nonprofits, workers, fishermen, and visitors who all make up the Pier community are the heart of our local tourism industry,” Hall said.
“When I wrote the motion to direct our City staff to explore bringing a music festival to the Pier and Beach, I worked with those businesses to learn from past events at the Pier and asked staff to co-create a festival experience with the Pier community.This needs to be successful for everyone, not just Goldenvoice.” A staff report issued in April says the Santa Monica City Council is planning for Ocean Way to return in 2027 and 2028, noting the festival “aligns with the City’s broader strategy to curate high-quality cultural offerings during the region’s peak event cycle” during that timeframe.
Check out the inaugural Ocean Way Festival lineup below.Tickets are available here.
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