Summertime is upon us! Which means Power 106 is doing it bigger than they’ve ever done in the past. Living up to their slogan of being “Los Angeles’ #1 For Hip Hop” radio station, concert-goers are blessed with an all-star lineup of both up-and-coming and mainstream artists, including Mustard & Friends, G-Eazy, Tyga, French Montana, T-Pain, O.T. Genasis, A-Track, Roddy Ricch and more.

O.T. Genasis – Photo courtesy of Power 106

Presented by Mercury Insurance, the one-day festival on Saturday, May 18 is slated to take place at Irvine’s most prominent venue – FivePoint Amphitheatre – where some of music’s biggest names come to perform.

Dianna Jason, vice president of marketing, said she’s “excited to be back in Orange County again! We always had amazing shows in the O.C. and the fans are great. I’m also very excited about the surprise guests that we’re unable to tell you about at this time to keep them a surprise, but I know who a couple of them are and they’re fantastic!”

DJ Felli Fel, on air from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., also shares the same sentiment about the surprise guests, saying “I’m most excited for the special guests that I can’t speak on!”

One notable thing about this year’s event is the name change. It is now titled The Liftoff, as opposed to their annual Powerhouse showcase which has been in place for over 20 years. For those who were wondering where Cali Christmas was last year, it was replaced by SoCal’s enormous Rolling Loud festival.

In addition, Jason brings up a great point that fans can get their money’s worth in one day, verses coming back for more. “I’m excited that the show is one day because as much as I love and go to a lot of festivals, I can’t give up multiple three-day weekends! I get to see everyone in one day that I want to see.”

The announcement for this year’s Liftoff was a movie in itself. French Montana and Gashi came up to the station to party and turn up with all the on-air personalities and staff, live streaming from Power 106’s Youtube page while sipping on Frenchie’s own French Vanilla Ciroc.

T-Pain – Photo courtesy of Power 106

Speaking of Gashi, he will be one of the main artists performing on Liftoff’s New Music stage.

Bryhana, on air from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., states, “I prefer festivals because I like a lot going on. I love that we have two stages. One for up-and-coming artists to give them a platform and a place to perform for people who haven’t even seen them before, and also see bigger artists that they probably still haven’t seen. It will be cool to vibe out the whole entire day!”

In fact, President and COO of Meruelo Media Otto Padron makes the analogy of the venue serving as the perfect space for this highly anticipated festival. He states, “The two most exciting things about this year’s Powerhouse are … a focus on new music under ‘The Liftoff’ brand … and making its launch pad a very cool festival venue in Irvine.”

Whether it’s Tyga performing “Taste,” O.T. Genasis performing “Bae,” G-Eazy performing “West Coast”, Roddy Ricch performing “Die Young” — May 18 will be a big day for hip-hop fans in SoCal. West Coast the best Coast!

Eman, interim VP of programming for Power 106, states, “We are very excited to be bringing our ‘Liftoff’ concert to the O.C.! May 18 will be a great musical experience with some of the newest and hottest artists out! And you know how Power 106 does … you’ll never know who’ll show up on stage!”

Tickets are on sale for $55.50 and can be purchased on LiveNation.com.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.