Afterburner Music Festival coming to Huntington Beach

How about a few tunes to go with your supersonic jets?

The Pacific Airshow will be providing that this year with the two-night Afterburner Music Festival, which is coming to Huntington City Beach on Oct. 1 and 2.

The festival will feature a variety of musical acts including Sammy Hagar & the Circle, Sam Hunt and X Ambassadors.

Afterburner Music Festival will take place north of Beach Boulevard at Pacific Coast Highway. It is the first live music event to take place on Huntington City Beach since 2013, when the U.S. Open of Surfing ended in rioting, more than 100 arrests and property damage.

Other music festivals have taken place since then at Huntington State Beach, including the Surf City Blitz with Social Distortion and the Offspring in 2018 and the Back to the Beach festival in 2018 and 2019.

Huntington Beach resident Kevin Elliott has been working to bring music to the Pacific Airshow, which returns after a one-year hiatus, since his Code Four marketing agency took over production of the airshow four years ago. The Afterburner Music Festival is different than the U.S. Open concerts in that it is a ticketed event and is planned to be zoned off on the sand.

It is expected to accomodate up to 12,000 people per day.

“Combining daytime mind-bending aviation feats with evening celebrations of live music has been our vision for Pacific Airshow, and we are grateful to the city of Huntington Beach for sharing that vision,” Elliott said. “Pacific Airshow is back and bringing extraordinary sights and sounds to our community for the biggest event of the year, and we can’t wait for Afterburner Music Festival to hit the beach this fall.”

Hagar, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, will headline the first night of the festival on Oct. 1. Hunt, a chart-topping country artist, will headline the following night with support from X Ambassadors. Additional performers are expected to be announced soon. Doors for the festival will open at 4 p.m. each day.

Huntington Beach is a familiar place for Hagar, who performed at the High Tide Beach Party & Car Show at Huntington State Beach in 2018.

“I’m a beach guy, and it just doesn’t get any better than playing music on the beach,” Hagar said in a news release. “My band and I can’t wait to play for the fans and bring live music back to the sand in Huntington Beach. Afterburner Music Festival is going to be one hell of a show — following the Blue Angels’ performance at Pacific Airshow will be epic — and to play “Dreams” as a tribute to Van Halen during the Blue Angels 75th Anniversary year will be surreal.”

Tickets for the Afterburner Music Festival went on sale Thursday. Early bird tickets start at $59 for Friday and $79 for Saturday, and can be purchased online at afterburnermusicfestival.com or on the Pacific Airshow mobile app.

The Huntington Beach City Council approved the permitting of the music festival by a unanimous 6-0 vote during its June 15 meeting. Included in the permitting agreement, Code Four has to provide a full event security plan vetted and approved by the Huntington Beach Police Department, as well as carry general and Alcoholic Beverage Control liability insurance coverage.

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