After facing organizational uphill battles earlier this year, Big Bang on the Bay organizer John Morris wants the community to know two things. For one, Big Bang on the Bay is back for this Labor Day weekend. And even more, there are a slew of parties on hand to put those uphill battles behind and enjoy the show.
Big Bang on the Bay is returning—and it includes a block party on Sunday, Sept. 1
“It’s proving tough to get people to come out on Labor Day versus July 3rd,” Morris said. “But we want people to know we’re out here and we’re going to be throwing one helluva party.”
The longtime organizer and leader for Big Bang on the Bay said the fireworks display—which are a more traditional deviation from the drone show hosted at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Long Beach City College earlier this year—will take place on Sept. 1 at 8:30PM. And it comes with a massive block party starting at 4:30PM.
Tickets are $75 for adults and $35 for kids and include a full meal from Naples Rib Company, music from DJ Ron and a space to dance, paragliders, aircraft flyover tributes, full bar, and, of course, waterfront seating to what Morris consistently touts as “the best fireworks show around.”
For more information on general admission, click here. For VIP and donation options, click here.
On Saturday, Aug. 31, organizers have lined up a Jakob’s Castle concert
For Saturday, Morris has lined up Jakob’s Castle, the band of Jakob Nowell. Honoring International Overdose Awareness Day, Jakob is the current Sublime singer and son of founding Sublime singer Bradley Nowell, who died of a heroin overdose in 1996 while on tour in San Francisco. Fresh off both his recent performance at Altar Society and the release of their debut album, “Enter the Castle,” this marks a nice return to home turf for the band.
Tickets are currently $30 and will be $40 at the door. For more information, click here.
There is some definitive bitterness about the cancellation of Big Bang on the Bay for July
Morris did not mince words while discussing the newer version of Big Bang on the Bay that will be coming come Labor Day Weekend. He said they were going to make it better, make it better, and that it’s “going to be a great weekend. Gonna be phenomenal.
“Hoping you all come out, get eveybody involved. Let’s make this one the big one so we can stick I tup their you know what. Because they deserve to have that done to them for what they’ve done to the community. Especially for what they did to the charities, specifically the Boys and Girls Club. Makes me sick to think about it. But I don’t want to ruin my day ’cause I’m having a good day today. Just planning the future.”
The Boys and Girls Club was set to be the benefactor of this year’s Big Bang on the Bay (and they still are), given there is a charity chosen each year.
So what, exactly, happened to the original Big Bang on the Bay that was set for July 3?
According to Morris, a late application to the California Coastal Commission—led by what he alleges was political interference and the Coastal Commission points out as a late filing of paperwork—has prompted the first time the show will not formally happen since its inception in 2011 (minus 2020, which was due to the pandemic).
The California Coastal Commission denies all of Morris’s allegations.
Commission legislative director Sarah Christie said Morris had been offered a meeting in January of this year to coordinate, letting him know that he needed to submit his permit application as soon as possible and that it comes with fulfillments that would be required on Morris’s end.
“He told us he would submit in early March, and then we never heard from him again,” Christie said earlier this month. “Late paperwork is not an ‘angle.’ We need a completed application before we can do our analysis and write a staff report. He knows that. He submitted his application for the 2023 even in February.”
And there are emails to prove it, per the LB4D blog. The commission was, ultimately, right in that they had fully corresponded with Morris to no reply.
