2025 Oceans Calling:
Harmonizing Again – One Year Later. The Highs and Lows
Oceans Calling 2025 insights
This past weekend’s Oceans Calling, a three-day (September 26th to 28th) music festival came roaring back to Ocean City. The footprint of the event was located in the southern end of Ocean City on the beach and boardwalk. This was the third year of Oceans Calling in Ocean City, not counting the cancelled event due to poor weather in 2022. It was estimated that the daily count was about 55,000 attendees each of the three days! So, let’s recap and review what worked well and share some recommendations for future events.
The OceanCity.com Assessment of Oceans Calling 2025
Below are some of our findings based on observations, while attending each of the three days, speaking with festival attendees, monitoring Face Book comments, and getting feedback from several business owners inside and outside of the festival grounds. We attended the 2023 and 2024 Oceans Calling events to compare, too.
Attendees
As the past years, attendees came from all over the country. Most seemed to come from the Mid-Atlantic states but we ran into people from Florida, California, Washington and even some Europeans! As in past years some were returning festival goers but many were new to Oceans Calling and many of these were first time visitors to Ocean City. But they came for the same reason; to hear a variety of good music in a festival atmosphere.
Overall impressions
As we found last year, most attendees loved this event. They were a well behaved crowd and all seemed respectable of others.
C3 Presents, the promoters and managers of this event, made a number of changes from last year and all seemed to improve the attendee experience. We’ll highlight some below.
Friday’s weather was pleasant while Saturday’s weather turned out quite rainy, particularly as the day went on. Sunday was partly sunny with moderate temps and breezy. If you recall, last year on Friday, the first day weather of the event, was rainy with thunderstorms at night. As with last year’s event, even with this one day of rain during the three day fest, spirits remained high.
The Highs
The music!
As in the previous two Oceans Calling events, the music was outstanding! The Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, and Green Day were the most touted music groups on Friday but other groups rounded out this firs day of lively music. The Rockville, Maryland based O.A.R. band once again played host at this year’s event with their band performing on Friday and then subsequently playing with other musicians on Saturday and Sunday as O.A.R. & Friends. On Saturday, the list of strong bands continued with Noah Khan, Good Charlotte, and Vampire Weekend performing. On Saturday, the quality of performance was sustained with Fall Out Boy, Weezer, Train and many others. A total of forty three (43) bands performed at this year’s Oceans Calling.
The Festival Set-Up
The organizers of Oceans Calling (C3 Presents) made several significant revisions from last year’s festival footprint and all seemed to improve the music experience for attendees. The three stages (Sea Bright, Rockville, and Carousel) were located to allow proper sound distancing from each other. However, this year the food and beverage vendors were moved away from the stages to allow more space for music listeners. Additional restroom facilities were added along the north and south of the OC Pier building which worked nicely and were convenient. The VIP and G+ designated spaces were also modified in the festival to “open up” the general concert areas even more. This year, the Carousel Stage was an open stage (removal of overhead tent) which made for better viewing, listening, and maneuvering of passersby. Some missed this tented area as a refuge from the Saturday rain, but overall a good change by C3.
A major addition this year was the Beach Sidewalk connecting the areas north and south of the pier amusements. This Beach Sidewalk connected to the boardwalk on its north side. This wide “sidewalk” made of beach planks provided a solid footing and pathway for the thousands moving around the festival event.
New this year was the sponsor stations that provided free samples from Dave’s Killer Bread, Cabot and electrolyte drinks. There were several other minor changes, too.
The Festival Amenities
The event provided hydration stations, ample restroom facilities (with flushing toilets, not just your regular porta potties), charging stations for cell phones, lockers, ADA viewing areas, free rides at the Jolly Roger Amusements on the OC Pier, a first aid tent, and more. All were well used facilities.
Novel idea: Several attendees mentioned, given the wet conditions on select days for each of the past three Oceans Calling event, that a human dryer as found at Universal and Legoland water parks would be a great addition. These are full body dryers which uses warm air and infrared lamps to quickly dry wet attendees. I am not familiar with these box style dryers but sounds like an interesting idea. Of course, even with the wet conditions, attendees came in droves to see their favorite musicians on Saturday’s event day. But being dried off would have been nice, too.
Food and drink
The food and beverage options were well received. So many choices of food. And the lines moved very well. The lines also moved well with the beverage lines. Prices were similar to last year and may seem high when compared with regular food and bar establishments, but not outrageous when compared with special event facilities like concert and sports venues.
Participation of Boardwalk businesses
The inclusion of the boardwalk businesses located south of North Division Street was again crucial to the success of this year’s event. The new Flamingo Coast restaurant and its retail stores just north of N. Division Street were added to the festival footprint.
The southern end of the boardwalk contains many of the iconic businesses that Ocean City regular visitors come to expect: Dolle’s Candyland, Fisher’s Popcorn, Dumsers Dairyland ice cream, Dough Roller pizza, Candy Kitchen, and more. In addition, festival goers were also able to visit some of the popular downtown bars on and just off the boardwalk that enhanced the festival experience and also enlarged the financial impact of the event.
These eateries and bar establishments being in the festival footprint were a vital complement to the event vendors. Their inclusion in the festival footprint, again allowed attendees to be able to have the full Ocean City experience. More importantly, their inclusion provided much of the community and business support to this third-year event.
Entrance and Re-entrance gates
For the most part, accessing and exiting the event went smoothly. A few new entrances were provided on the side streets which helped, too. Wait lines were acceptable and maybe a little longer on Saturday given the rainy conditions. Many people were wearing ponchos and taking items out of pockets and bags that took a little longer to go through security.
Security
The event sponsors and the Town of Ocean City did a nice job in ensuring the event was safe. Security personnel inside and outside of the perimeter were visible and friendly. The bag checkers at the entrance points were friendly. Given this large crowd, I did not see or hear of any confrontations with police actions. As stated previously, the attendees seemed very cordial and pleased to be at this event.
Cleanliness
This year trash bags were regularly changed along the Boardwalk and beach area. Just like last year, we felt like there was an army of volunteers (thanks to the Ocean City Surfriders Club, OC Go Green, and OC Beach Heroes) holding recycle bags and picking up the empty aluminum cans for recycling.
The public restrooms brought in for the event had few complaints with some favorable comments on their cleanliness. Several noted as last year, the hand sanitizers did run out of fluid. The 9th Street public restroom on the boardwalk was open later to allow the thousands of walkers and bikers a facility to stop in on their trek to the north. For some reason, the permanent public restrooms on the boardwalk at Wicomico Street were closed and signs informed attendees to use event restrooms, which were ample. For the guys, trough style urinals were provided at two locations. Very easy to use and helped free up the porta let units for others.
Bicycles
The use of these two wheeled means of transport seemed to be a popular and growing way to get to the event. Bikes were everywhere! Bikes were also parked everywhere for the event. The large bike rack space provided by the event off the boardwalk was overflowing. As several Facebook commenters mentioned, “how did people find their bikes in this area at the end of the day”; but somehow they did. Several of the local bicycle shops were renting out their bikes to attendees for this three day event. Some of the bike shops even provided their surreys to be rented on one way trips for attendees to enjoy this unique experience.
Only comment, as from last year, was the lack of bike lights for those riders traveling the Ocean City streets at night. And there were many bikers. Same comment for those that travelled via e-scooters.
Other transportation modes:
- Personal vehicles. Many attendees ventured to drive to the downtown area to this event. Public parking filled up quickly and parking lots charged upwards of $100 per space in the south end. The Presbyterian Church at 13th Street and St. Louis Avenue was requesting a $30 donation to park. At 17th Street and Philadelphia Avenue the Holy Savior Catholic Church was requesting a $15 donation per space. But even these church parking lots filled up, too. Earlier departees fared much better in driving back to their nightly accommodations.
- Ride sharing options – The main location for these users was at the designated ride sharing public parking lot at Baltimore Avenue and 4th Street. This option was very popular particularly on the rainy Saturday, to and from the event.
- Water transportation – there were several area boat providers who “taxied” attendees to and from the event for a specific fee. OC Bayhopper, a local water taxi and water cruise company, stated that it transported over 1,000 people for this event over the three days. Last year they transported 800 people for this same event.
- Walking – sometimes the most basic method is often the best. Scores of event attendees walked several miles from the north part of the boardwalk and beyond as well as from the west (over the Route 50 Bridge). They planned to stay in area hotels and residential units within a specific walking proximity. Others walked a distance back to their parked vehicles.
Lessening concern
Crowding
This was a major concern last year, however given the number of improvements this year, such as the relocation of vendors, removal of Carousel tent for better viewing, and improved pathways like the Beach Sidewalk, this year seemed better even given the large size of 55,000 people. Maybe people are getting more accustomed to these large crowds and thus more accepting? There were options for attendees:
- Those that didn’t mind the large crowd and wanted to get close to the stage, then best to arrive early to that music stage: or
- Just interested in enjoying the festival atmosphere, then just hang back out of the crowd and stand with your friends or sit on the designated towel zones. Lots of these Fringe People: or
- Go venture in between these options for better listening but not the shoulder to shoulder feel: or
- And many were hanging out on the OC fishing pier where the Sea Bright and Rockville stages could be seen and heard.
Transportation
Bus Service
In past years, we had commented there were concerns with the bus system being able to transport these large crowds to and from the event. Things seemed to get better last year and much better than the first year. For this year’s event, the bus transportation appeared to be able to better handle the larger crowds given this past experience. The addition of more buses and past experience was appreciated. The Ocean City Transportation Department should be applauded for addressing this important area of service.
Cell phone reception
As last year, cell reception was a concern as the day went on and more people entered the event. Some people resorted to the WhatsApp to connect with family and friends. Some had personal walkie talkies. But for regular cell phone, reception and texting could get challenging. Best to take a picture or store a video of your favorite band and song and text or email it after the day’s event when one had access to Wi-Fi.
Conclusion
Almost every attendee that I spoke with, veteran and first time Oceans Calling attendees, all thought this year’s event was outstanding and well managed.
This event provided a major economic surge to numerous businesses, particularly the downtown hotels, restaurants and bars. The easy access into and out of the event allowed attendees to visit businesses outside of the festival footprint, too.
As we highlighted in last year’s review, C3 Presents, the company behind Oceans Calling handled the music lineup, setting up, coordinating the logistics, and marketing. Their goal, from its website, “We’re in the business of putting smiles on people’s faces.” C3 again delivered.
For most, this event was a tremendous experience and attendees look forward to returning to Ocean City in 2026 for the next one.
Event Survey
After this event, ticket purchasers should have received an emailed survey from Oceans Calling asking for input. The survey is long but easy to complete. It includes questions about your experience at the festival, arrival and departure experience, favorite group, artists you wish to see next year, feelings on personal security, directional signage, expenditures for food/drink/apparel, ticket pricing, and more. We believe the Oceans Calling Festival people are listening, so please complete. It was evident that some adjustments were made from last year to increase your attendee enjoyment. Please complete this survey.
Next up this weekend is the Country Calling music event. Enjoy!!
