Oceans Calling, a three-day multigenre music festival, returns to Ocean City for its fourth year this fall with the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Gwen Stefani and Mumford & Sons slated to headline.

The festival will take over the Ocean City boardwalk from September 25-27, and tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, officials announced Tuesday.

The Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & the Blowfish headline Friday’s set, and other acts, such as rapper Ludacris, are slated to perform throughout the day. Twenty One Pilots and Gwen Stefani are the leading performers for the second day of the festival, with others, such as singer Corinne Bailey Rae, also hitting the stage on Saturday. Mumford & Sons and Matchbox Twenty will close out the festival on Sunday.

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The general admission tickets cost $360 and guarantee entry all three days of the festival, or you can pay $179 to get a ticket for the day that has your favorite lineup of entertainers. Premium options may include amenities such as a private bar and front-of-stage or on-stage viewing, and go for as much as $7,500 for all three days.

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In 2025, Noah Kahan, Green Day and Fall Out Boy sold out over 50,000 tickets each day at Oceans Calling, Ocean City spokesperson Jessica Waters said in an email. In 2024, an independent study found that the festival and its western music counterpart, Country Calling, which too place a week later, generated $376.3 million in economic impact.

“The festivals are deeply integrated into our community, supporting dozens of local businesses and creating meaningful opportunities for residents to participate in and benefit from their success,” Waters said in an email. “By anchoring these events in the shoulder season, we’ve successfully extended our tourism calendar, driving sustained visitation and economic growth beyond the traditional summer months.”

Small-business owners shared with The Banner last year that, in addition to benefits, such as increased volume of sales and shoppers who’d otherwise never come to their stores, the festival poses some challenges , too. Some bars and restaurants have to close earlier due to the Oceans Calling’s security measures, and businesses outside of its perimeter say they don’t see much impact.

Still, Oceans Calling’s economic impact is an outlier as music festivals across the country fall off. Oceans Calling, Country Calling and the springtime’s Boardwalk Rock, all organized by C3 Presents, which also hosts Lollapalooza in Chicago, have helped to elevate Ocean City’s profile as a premier East Coast festival destination, Waters said.

Banner photojournalist Kaitlin Newman contributed to this reporting.