In only its second year, Oceans Calling Festival in Ocean City, Md., sold out within weeks of tickets going on sale—even the three-day platinum packages that went for nearly $1,000 a pop. Oceans Calling fills a void left by Firefly, the East Coast answer to Coachella that ran for a decade just 70 miles north in Dover, Del., but that went dark in 2023.
Oceans Calling 2024 featured three stages perched on a wide and sandy beach, wedged between the water and the boardwalk. The festival grounds also encompassed the Jolly Roger Amusement Park, attracting music fans who are trying to hang on to the last vestiges of summer fun—because who doesn’t love a little funnel cake and Whac-A-Mole with their Blink-182? This setup was perfect for the large number of attendees who brought their kids in tow, fortified with mini noise-canceling headphones, snacks and diaper bags.
As they did the year before, festival organizers leaned into Gen X and millennial nostalgia, plucking artists from the ’90s and early 2000s whose hits saturated radio airwaves and Total Request Live. This year’s lineup showcased 30 acts including Lilith Fair darling Lisa Loeb, ’90s punk staple the Offspring, Dave Matthews Band (or just “Dave” to my Birkenstock-and-polo-shirt-wearing high-school friends) and Philly crooners Boys II Men, whose ballads played at every wedding during the Clinton administration.
This past weekend, 50,000 music fans descended onto the Ocean City boardwalk, bringing a buzz to what is ordinarily a quiet time in the family-friendly resort town. On Friday, the weather was damp but tolerable until the sun went down. Then, in a repeat of Oceans Calling 2023, raindrops pelted the crowd when the headliners played. As 311 took the stage, most festival goers pulled out their ponchos and huddled together to watch, while others went all in and took off their shirts, basking in the rain. Frontman Nick Hexum, who still boasts the energy and six-pack abs of a 25-year-old, announced to the crowd that the rap/reggae/rock group was celebrating 34 years of making music together. The set featured songs from across 311’s extensive discography, including 1999 hit “Come Original” and wrapping up with 1996 smash “Down.” 311 also sprinkled in some new tracks from upcoming album, Full Bloom.
As the torrential downpour continued, driving fans under any overhang they could find, Cage The Elephant pushed on at the Sea Bright Stage. The Grammy-winning outfit played hook-filled, anthemic songs like “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” and “Ready To Let Go.” Frontman Matt Schultz, usually seen dancing across the stage and crowd surfing during Cage performances, still rocked out despite being limited by a broken foot.
Day two thankfully promised warmth and sunshine: festival weather. Around noon, those who weren’t marching in droves down the boardwalk or over the Route 50 bridge to catch the early afternoon acts were taking advantage of the pleasant climes to pitch an umbrella and chairs on the sand and enjoy a few hours soaking in the salty air and crashing waves. Later in the afternoon, the Hives, part of the wave of garage-rock bands that entered the mainstream in the early aughts, played a lively set at the Rockville Stage, despite being dressed in their signature suits on a day with 95% humidity. After a marijuana reference-infused chill fest performed by reggae band Rebelution on the same stage, the All-American Rejects—of “Swing, Swing” and “Move Along” fame—played their brand of upbeat emo punk at the adjacent Carousel Stage. All of that was just a warmup to the show-stealing performance that occurred later in the evening.
California pop-punk fivesome the Offspring has been in the limelight for 30 years, after 1994’s Smash sold more than 11 million copies, propelled by “Come Out And Play” and “Self Esteem,” which are still played frequently on dad-rock radio stations around the country. The Offspring’s self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, thundering drum beats and heavy guitar riffs have appealed to multiple generations over the decades, as evidenced by the crowd composition on Saturday night. Playing in front of a backdrop of a massive skeleton torso (reminiscent of Smash’s cover art), the band covered the essentials—“The Kids Aren’t Alright,” “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy),” “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”—and shared some new music off the soon-to-be-released Supercharged. Singer/guitarist Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles bantered with each other onstage, joking about the crowd size and buttering up the frenzied masses (“This is the best show we’ve ever played!” “Isn’t this the most beautiful crowd you’ve ever seen?”) before signing off with a sing-along of “Self Esteem.”
As the sun burned off the mist to make way for the third day of Oceans Calling, families donning festival bracelets roamed up and down the boardwalk, while bikers rode around with speakers blasting Dave Matthews Band and Sublime, gearing up for the final day of the event.
Mid-afternoon at the Carousel Stage, bespectacled singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb displayed her trademark soft, airy lilt that charmed so many of us when we first heard her enduring, yearning anthem “Stay (I Missed You),” which appeared in 1994’s Reality Bites. Thirty years later, Loeb retains her cute indie-girl vibe. She treated the giant festival tent like it was an intimate campus coffeeshop gig, interspersing origin stories and jokes between songs while also casually name-dropping friends of hers such as Ethan Hawke and Jason Biggs.
On the Sea Bright Stage, with the ocean water glinting in the background, Barenaked Ladies performed their unique blend of folksy rock, pop and fast-talking rap. The Canadian band slow-burned throughout the ’90s with songs like “If I Had $1000000” and “Brian Wilson,” before exploding with 1998’s Stunt, which featured mega-hit “One Week.” Sporting flamboyant button-down shirts adorned with graffiti and aloha prints, the band members played their most memorable tracks as well as bursting into several covers, including Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” at which point the middle-aged, slightly stout geek rockers broke out some hip-hop choreography to the crowd’s delight.
As the clouds rolled in and the festival grounds grew dark for the final night of the 2024 iteration of Oceans Calling, Mt. Joy, a folky indie-rock band that’s enjoyed a surge of popularity over the past few years, ascended the stage. Unlike many of the nostalgia acts whose first records were heard on cassette tapes and CDs, the members of Mt. Joy are relative youngsters, building a following on YouTube and Spotify. But when playing hits like “Silver Lining” and “Astrovan,” you could hear the influence of artists who came before, from the Grateful Dead to Paul Simon.
The festival came to a close with the confidence that it was more than a stopgap for Firefly. It provided an opportunity for Gen Xers and millennials to instill in the next generation good musical taste and appreciation for the festival scene that they grew up loving—not to mention a final warm weekend to enjoy the beach. With two successful events in the books, Oceans Calling has become a late-summer family tradition.
—Maureen Coulter; photos by Evan Albuck
