Techno concert at defunct Oxnard power plant canceled; 10K were expected

An electronic music concert planned for June 1 at a defunct power plant on Oxnard's coast has been canceled — an outcome that has delighted some neighbors.

In the aftermath of the cancellation, concert promoters and the city provided varying portrayals of what went wrong.

Organizers said the city wouldn't issue the necessary permits. City officials said a proposed safety plan was insufficient. Up to 10,000 people were expected to attend.

The event, named after the musical headliner Solomun, was set for the shuttered Mandalay Generating Station on North Harbor Boulevard. The beachfront property sits south of Gonzales Road.

Solomun would have performed a 6-hour-set. The performer, whose Facebook page on Friday still had an advertisement for the Oxnard concert, plays house and techno music, genres of electronic dance music.

In a web post Tuesday, the organizing group, Framework, expressed disappointment when announcing the cancellation.

“After several months of diligent planning, negotiation and meetings with city, county and state officials, we were disheartened to learn from Oxnard city officials that they would be not issuing permits for our scheduled event with Solomun," the site read.

The event will now take place at Exposition Park in Los Angeles on the same date.

An Oxnard spokesperson said the proposed concert was “an exciting idea” but event producers did not submit public safety plans that would control risk.

“The Mandalay Station is a power plant, not a concert hall,” said Katie Casey, spokesperson for the city, in an email. “Hence it presents unique logistical challenges that could not be resolved in time for this event.”

The power plant has one narrow access road leading in and out of the site. Options presented by the event producer were not adequate to evacuate the proposed 10,000 attendees safely in an emergency, she said.

City officials hope producers will continue to work on a safety plan that will welcome a concert in the future and try again next year, Casey added.

One resident who lives near the site was happy with the cancellation because of parking and crowd concerns.

“I’m glad the city came to their senses,” said Kenneth Blumer, 81. “The place is not user-friendly for that purpose."

Blumer, an attorney who has owned his home since 2018, said the site has never hosted a concert of the scale proposed for the Solomun event since he's lived there.

Other nearby residents also expressed concerns on the Nextdoor social media app when they learned about the concert announced April 1.

"I think it's a bad idea," read one of 111 comments on one post. Another person wrote, "I thought this was an April Fool’s joke!"

Some were positive. "Hey — it's one night — lighten up and let people enjoy themselves."

The promoter's site says organizers conducted “comprehensive preparations” to meet city requirements, including safeguarding local wildlife and creating medical and traffic plans approved by industry experts. Organizers said they provided city officials with "numerous" amendments to accommodate the city's "excessive" requests.

“It became clear that our vision for innovative and safe events does not align with the current policies of Oxnard officials,” the cancellation announcement read.

The power plant is advertised as abandoned and available for rent on the website Giggster. Maximum attendees are listed at 500. The rent is listed at $400 an hour for a minimum of nine hours or $3,600 a day. Pop artists Tate McRae and Bebe Rexha performed at the generation station on Nov. 19 for the Billboard Music Awards, according to a Billboard article and photos.

For people who purchased tickets but can't attend the event at the new Los Angeles location, a full refund is being offered by May 24 via a contact form at www.dice.fm/contact.

More information can be found at thisisframework.com/event/solomun/.

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Solomun techno concert at defunct Oxnard power plant canceled