Friday’s opening day of the 2026 Oceans Calling Festival in Ocean City has been canceled due to the impacts of continued weather and beach erosion at the festival site.
Festival organizers announced Thursday that conditions have made it impossible to safely complete construction of the festival site in time for Friday’s scheduled performances.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of our production, site, safety teams, and the city staff/officials the impacts of this week’s continued weather, including beach erosion that affected the festival site, have made it impossible to safely complete the build in time for Friday,” organizers said.
Friday’s lineup was scheduled to be headlined by Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & the Blowfish, with performances from Ludacris, O.A.R., Yellowcard, Shaggy, Liz Phair, Gavin DeGraw and several other artists. Organizers said one-day Friday tickets purchased directly through Front Gate Tickets will be automatically refunded. Three-day ticket holders who purchased directly through Front Gate will receive a 33% refund. Refunds may take up to 30 days and will be returned to the original method of payment.
The festival is currently scheduled to continue Saturday and Sunday. Organizers said they are working to prepare the site for the remainder of the weekend and are hoping conditions improve.
Saturday’s scheduled headliners are Twenty One Pilots and Gwen Stefani, while Mumford & Sons and Matchbox Twenty are scheduled to headline Sunday.
