Twilight Summer Concert Series Returns With New Improvements

SANTA MONICA, CA – The Twilight Summer Concert Series is back at the Santa Monica Pier after a year of community meetings and changes in leadership to address the massive crowds the event draws. The new concerts will take place on Wednesday nights from September 5 to October 7, and will now feature three stages instead of just one.

Multiple stages will allow the masses of concert-goers to spread out, while enjoying culinary and arts installations around the venue, according to Los Angeles Magazine. Each night will be curated around a "cultural soundscape," representing a different region of the world with genres and artists that represent each theme, the magazine reported. Betty Who, Judy Mowatt, Fela Tribute, Orquesta Akoka and Red Baraat are scheduled to perform throughout the series.

Last year, the summer concert series drew record-breaking crowds, leaving local officials concerned about safety. Singer Khalid kicked off the free concert series with 25,000 people in attendance – the pier deck, which can hold 5,000 to 7,500 people per event, reached capacity quickly and the crowd soon overflowed onto nearby beaches.

Only eleven minutes after the concert started, the Santa Monica Police Department began instructing visitors to "avoid the pier due to overcrowding," according to Curbed Los Angeles.

The event drew criticism from locals, including city arts commissioner Phil Brock, who expressed his concerns about the concerts in an op-ed.

"Unfortunately, the Twilight Dance Concerts are now a security burden to our city. They must be canceled and reimagined," Brock wrote. "While we share our Pier with the world, it must retain its local flavor."

By December 2017, the Santa Monica City Council approved a notion to move the 2018 season to after Labor Day in an effort to reduce the massive crowds that the event draws.

"We can have safe, inclusive, diverse events on the Pier, but we can't do it when it spills out over the beach at night," City Manager Rick Cole said.

To stay updated on the concert series, visit the Santa Monica Pier website.

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