Back in its glory days, Asbury Park was the crown jewel of the Jersey Shore. After falling from grace and into a state of neglect and disrepair, the city has since returned to its former prestige. Today, Asbury is awash in a golden afterglow—not just from the summer season, but also the sixth iteration of the Sea.Hear.Now festival, which has taken place annually since 2018 aside from a pandemic-forfeited year in 2020.
Outside the festival, micro-scenes sprouted further down the boardwalk, creating lively pockets of people all over the beach town. After-parties at local hotspots created a sense of improvisation and wonder as surprise sit-ins waited in the wings of every stage. In my thirty years of hanging in this town, last weekend was the closest it has felt to resembling the Nashville or New Orleans music scene.
This year’s lineup featured heavy hitters like The Black Crowes, 311, Noah Kahan, Peaches, Trey Anastasio Band, Norah Jones, The Gaslight Anthem, Gogol Bordello, and more, but the buzz that electrified the streets was for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s three-hour set scheduled to close the festival. This long-awaited performance by the Boss in his home town represented the the crest of the city’s wave of revitalization—a new high-water mark.
Swarms of festival-goers arrived from all walks of life—approximately 35,000 people were expected each day—to kick off their shoes and dance in the sand for two days full of sunshine, music, and friends. A slew of food vendors added a medley of aromas to the cool breeze as the doors opened at noon on Saturday. Art installations served as landmarks and meetup points along the beach, from the festival’s ever-present surfboard archway to swaying jellyfish to Stokehenge, an area dedicated to murals painted on wooden walls by local artists.
Sonic Blume, Bo Staloch, and Passafire kicked off the festivities before Robert Randolph Band, Joe P, Sierra Ferrell, Guster, Ziggy Alberts, and The Revivalists kept the energy up during the afternoon across two stages on the beach and one in the boardwalk-adjacent Bradley Park. The Hives, Grace Potter, The Black Crowes, 311, Peaches, and Saturday night’s headliner, Noah Kahan, had the crowd singing along until the last note.
Legendary photographer, Sea.Hear.Now co-founder, and Asbury Park mainstay Danny Clinch hosted pop-up shows at his Transparent Clinch Gallery Tent throughout the weekend including performances by Grace Potter, Guster, Sonic Blume, Sunshine Spazz, Eggy, and Rachel Ana Dobken. Ocean Avenue Stompers, the local brass band named for the seaside block on which the festival take place, marched up and down the boardwalk like a New Orleans second line, filling in the blanks for anybody away from the main stages.
On the Park Stage, Robert Randolph Band, with Tash Neal (The London Souls) on guitar, covered Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”. Shortly after, on the Surf Stage, eclectic bluegrass rising star Sierra Ferrell welcomed the crowd and introduced two of her bandmates who were born in New Jersey. They celebrated their homecoming with renditions of “American Dreaming”, “Dollar Bill Bar”, the appropriately titled “The Sea”, and a lively cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” in the style of Janis Joplin.
The Revivalists leaned into their newest album, 2023’s Pour It Out Into The Night but dug into their archive for cuts of “All My Friends”, “You and I”, and “Celebration” before closing out their set on the beach with their timeless hit, “Wish I Knew You”. Grace Potter, who had already played a full late-night show at The Stone Pony the night prior, took the Sand Stage as the sun began to drop from the sky. Grace wielded the tambourine as well as her retro-style Gibson Flying V guitar as she carved out a setlist ranging from 2015’s Midnight to 2024’s Grace Potter’s Road Trip. Dipping her toes into Led Zepplin’s waters, Grace shook the beach with a cover of “Whole Lotta Love” to end her set.
[Photo: Dusana Risovic courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Grace Potter, 9/14/24]
Back on the main stage on the north end of the beach, The Black Crowes dedicated their well wishes to fellow rockers Jane’s Addiction and vocalized hope that “they find some peace.” Chris and Rich Robinson tackled their hits with a casual tightness, dishing out their hit cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle”, “She Talks to Angels”, “Twice as Hard”, and a closing “Remedy”.
[Photo: Nathan Zucker courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – The Black Crowes, 9/14/24]
Peaches took over the beach near Convention Hall as 311 geared up on the Park Stage. The utterly unique Canadian artist’s backup dancers were costumed as vaginas throughout her no-filter, NSFW set that riled up the evening crowd with songs like “F— the Pain Away”. Meanwhile, 311 offered a mellower set as they nestled into an alternative-rock groove with “Beautiful Disaster”, “Come Original”, “Love Song”, “Amber”, and a closing “Down”.
Saturday night’s headlining act at Sea.Hear.Now 2024 was singer-songwriter Noah Kahan, who confessed both that it was his first time in New Jersey and that the state is “actually f—ing beautiful.” He reminisced about living in New York City alone in the past as he wove a set of crowd-favorites, opening with “Dial Drunk” and closing with “Stick Season” just before the 10:30 curfew.
[Photo: Charles Reagan Hacklemen courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Noah Kahan, 9/14/24]
Afterwards, the crowd scattered out of the festival grounds and onto the boardwalk. Afterparties were held by all local venues including, but not limited to, The Break, Low Dive, Wonder Bar, and The Stone Pony. Waiting on Mongo kept the fans engaged at The Break both nights with lively fare like a spicy rendition of “Eminence Front”. Just like the festival’s crowd, music spilled out of the area around Convention Hall and sprung up like shoots from seeds scattered all about town. It was impossible to go anywhere without hearing live music.
The Stone Pony, which marked its 50th anniversary this year, hosted the Tangiers Blues Band on Saturday night. While no specific guests were billed on the show, five previous iterations of this gig had left in-the-know attendees with sky-high expectations—expectations that would soon be exceeded. Danny Clinch traded his camera for his harmonica for the occasion while the Ocean Avenue Stompers added a layer of brass to the night’s star-studded proceedings. Another NJ native, Robert Randolph, anchored himself onstage for what he would personally describe as a “mind-blowing experience”: Soon after the show began, the sold-out crowd was treated with a steady stream of blues standards until the wee hours of the morn by a parade of the biggest artists in the Sea.Hear.Now 2024 lineup.
The first guest, Noah Kahan, emerged from stage door less than an hour after finishing his headlining set to accompany the stacked house band on rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Still, the best was yet to come. With Asbury Park in-joke t-shirts reading “I heard Bruce might show up” dotting the crowd, the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, did, in fact, show up at his old haunt (along with E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons) for an extended run of blues tunes including John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom”, Don Ray’s “Down the Road a Piece”, Little Richard’s “Lucille”, Little Walter’s “My Babe”, and Them’s “Gloria”.
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As people struggled to pick their jaws off the floor at this surprise Springsteen appearance, Grace Potter jumped with the house band for a cover of Muddy Waters’ “I Just Want to Make Love to You”. As the song wound down and Grace exited into the street, Connecticut rock quartet Eggy took over the stage for lively takes on Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” and The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. They soon ceded the Pony back to the Tangiers Blues Band for spotlights on Joe P (Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”), Illiterate Light (for Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right”), and Rachel Ana Dobkin (for Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock”). A weary, contentment shined from each audience member’s eyes as they wrapped their heads around this once-in-a-lifetime experience and wandered home to rest for day two.
The second day of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 presented another afternoon of music on the sand, a sky full of sunshine, and a surf competition on the North Beach. Sunshine Spazz, Rachel Ana Dobken, Illterate Light (with a fiery cover of Neil Young’s “Vampire Blues”), The Aces, Bertha: Grateful Drag, and Joy Oladukun (who covered The Beatles’ “Blackbird”) opened Sunday’s slate.
Eggy, fresh off its appearance at the Pony less than 12 hours prior, used its hour-long set on the Park Stage to highlight just how much the band’s songbook has progressed in the last year with a ten-song set comprised entirely of songs debuted in 2023 or later. Among them were seven tracks from the band’s newly released LP, Waiting Game, two originals written after the new album was completed (“Atomic Age” and “What I Know”), and a well-received reimagining of Emily King’s “Remind Me”. While Eggy has long been known as a “jam band,” the set showcased both the group’s commitment to clever songwriting and its recent detour into a more indie-rock/pop sound.
Related: Phish Was Going To Cover King Gizzard At MSG. Then, Trey Anastasio Found Out About Eggy.
After Wilderado, Jersey City’s R&B/soul legends Kool & The Gangbrought their classic catalog to the beach with spirited renditions of “Jungle Boogie” (with Prince Hakim), “Ladies’ Night”, and “Get Down on It” ahead of a scorching “Celebration” closer. Beloved singer-songwriter and pianist Norah Jones and esoteric New York rapper/personality Action Bronson (with a live band) followed on the Park and Sand Stage, respectively, before a massive migration moved north for Trey Anastasio Band’s set on the beach.
[Photo: Charles Reagan Hacklemen courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Norah Jones, 9/15/24]
Midway through TAB’s performance, the Garden State-raised Phish guitarist stepped to the microphone to address the crowd gathered on the sand. “Thank you, everybody, thank you,” he said. “So, very quickly, I wanna say [to] every person out here in the audience, I’m just as excited as you are. I grew up in New Jersey. I swam on this beach when I was a kid. And when I was 14 years old, I was allowed to go to my first-ever concert ever, my 16-year-old sister took me, and that concert was… the Jadwin Cage [in Princeton, NJ], November 1st, 1978. I saw Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.”
He continued, through excited spurts of laughter, “So, if you’re wondering where I got the idea to play like we were just playing, the whole show was like that. And I’m incredibly honored right now… we were backstage, we asked Bruce if he would come out and play one with us and he said yes. So, this is the thrill of a lifetime for me. Ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen.” With that, Springsteen strode onstage with his Telecaster, wrapped Anastasio in a warm embrace, and gave the crowd a quick “How we doing?!” before following the band into one of his own beloved deep cuts, “Kitty’s Back”, the loose, laid-back blues vamp from his 1973 sophomore LP which has long functioned as a launchpad for live improvisation at E Street Band shows. For more on this set, head here.
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Even after his Saturday night sit-in at The Stone Pony and his guest spot with Anastasio, Bruce Springsteen was far from done at Sea.Hear.Now 2024. As the sun set, The Boss took the stage alongside The Gaslight Anthem on the Park Stage to help the New Jersey indie-rockers kick off their set with “History Books” and “American Slang”. Later in the set, the band also brought out bassist/vocalist/bandleader Karina Rykman to sit in on their recently released collaborative cover of Billie Eilish track “Ocean Eyes” and “The ’59 Sound”. For more on this set, head here.
The Gaslight Anthem w/ Bruce Springsteen – “History Books”, “American Slang” – 9/15/24
[Video: pwm112]
Meanwhile the gypsy punk-rockers of Gogol Bordello brought frantic, manic zeal to their Sand Stage set. Opening with “Sacred Darling” and raucous renditions of “Never Wanna Be a Young Again” and “Not a Crime”, the veteran rockers shared the influences from around the globe that shape their unique sound. A classic “Immigrant Punk”, fan-favorites “Wonderlust King” and “Start Wearing Purple”, and deeper cuts like “My Companjera” had newcomers and experienced audience members dancing together and kickin’ up sand. Frontman Eugene Hütz and his band of misfit rockers never stopped spinning and switching positions onstage, unleashing newer songs like “Fire on the Ice Floe” (off 2022’s Solidaritine) and getting help from NYC’s Puzzled Panther on the band’s most recent single “From Boyarka to Boyaca” before closing with their biggest tune, “Start Wearing Purple”, and their ode to the resilient freedom fighters in Ukraine, “Undestructable”.
[Photo: Dusana Risovic courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Gogol Bordello, 9/15/24]
Like the parable of the prodigal son returning home, local hero Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band rounded out the sixth iteration of Sea.Hear.Now—a festival seemingly designed for this exact moment—with a three-hour set on the beach on Sunday night. The insatiable crowd surged to the north end of the beach for the last time, people clambering over each other to get a good view of the Boss with his longtime backing band.
Back in the day, as a young songwriter, Bruce Springsteen performed regularly in Asbury Park—namely, at The Stone Pony. He would couch-surf throughout the town, finding inspiration for some of his biggest songs in the process (his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was released just over 50 years ago). Throughout his Sea.Hear.Now homecoming, the Boss seemed to wax nostalgic about his years in the beach town, sprinkling in background details before many of his songs.
[Photo: Charles Reagan Hacklemen courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, 9/15/24]
Leaning into the sentimentality of the setting, Bruce and his band steered away from his recent tour’s setlist, instead opting largely for rarities and classics that were inspired by his humble beginnings in the local scene. An opening “Lonesome Day” gave way to “Blinded by the Light”, the first song from his debut album—the beginning of his Asbury Park story—for its first appearance in seven years. Bruce noted that he had been inspired to write the song just north of where he stood on the Surf Stage, at the beach of the Village of Loch Arbor.
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – “Blinded by the Light”, “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” – 9/15/24
[Video: Matt Orel]
Staying within Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen continued with “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” and “Growin’ Up”. A detour through a saxophone- and harmonica-laden cut of “The Promised Land”, off 1978’s Darkness On The Edge of Town, wound back into Greetings as the Boss led the way through a jazzy rendition of “Spirit in the Night” and the first take on early-days shows-stopper “Thundercrack” since 2016. Even the show’s only true “mishap”—an outage on the stage’s massive screens between “Growin’ Up” and “Thundercrack”, didn’t seem to deter Springsteen, who relished the intimacy of the unplanned moment with veteran charisma.
The brass section introduced “E Street Shuffle”, which swung merrily into the aptly selected first performance of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” in eight years, which he dedicated the late Danny Federici who played accordion on 1973 studio recording. After “Hungry Heart”, Springsteen introduced another appropriate selection, “Local Hero” with the story behind its lyrics (seeing a lineup of black velvet paintings in a local shop depicting, from left to right, a doberman pinscher, himself as a muscly young rocker, and martial arts legend Bruce Lee). The sands turned to gold from there with another Bruce-on-Jersey gem, “Atlantic City”.
He enlisted the help from his wife, Patti Scialfa, for a steamy duet on “Tougher than the Rest”. The performance held extra weight in the wake of Patti’s recent blood cancer diagnosis (“Yeah, the road is dark / And it’s a thin, thin line / But I want you to know, I’ll walk it for you anytime”).
[Photo: Ismael Quintanilla courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, 9/15/24]
Introducing the next song as a “prayer for our country”, the hometown headliners built upon a wistful “Long Walk Home”. The lyrics rang as loud and true as the screaming sax solo from Jake Clemons and showcased Bruce’s songwriting skills stemming from his Jersey roots: “I could smell the same deep green of summer / ‘Bove me the same night sky was glowin’ / In the distance I could see the town where I was born” & “My father said “Son, we’re lucky in this town / It’s a beautiful place to be born / It just wraps its arms around you/ Nobody crowds you and nobody goes it alone”).
Roy Bittan’s piano took the wheel during a delicate “Racing in the Street”, which cruised into a rousing “Because the Night”, which he famously lent to Patti Smith in the late ’70s. “She’s the One” scintillated like the stars above before yet another New Jersey-inspired song followed with a crash, “Wrecking Ball”, a track born amidst the rubble of the old Giants Stadium in 2010 that opens with the lyrics, “I was raised outta steel / Here in the swamps of Jersey / Some misty years ago / Through the mud and the beer / The blood and the cheers / I’ve seen champions come and go”. Barreling into the night, The Boss and his band performed a gritty version of “The Rising”, prowled through the “Badlands”, and offered up a “Thunder Road” complete with haunted dusty beach roads and memorable sax solos.
Before the encore, which unfolded more like a second set, Bruce talked about the rise and fall of his little shore town, Asbury Park. “We were here, on that little street corner,” he said, pointing toward the direction of the Stone Pony across the street, “when nobody was here. And I didn’t know when I’d see folks in this good town again.” He continued by thanking everyone who invested themselves in Asbury Park including the LGBTQ+ community, who spearheaded the cultural resurgence.
He then dove into a trio of songs from his 1975 breakout, Born To Run, offering up the lasting pairing of “Meeting Across The River” (the first since 2016) and “Jungleland” (“And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine / Over the Jersey state line”) followed by the LP’s hit title track, the captivated audience singing along word for word, note for note.
[Photo: Pooneh Ghana courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, 9/15/24]
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” blazed into a heartfelt good-bye to “Bobby Jean”. After introducing his band with a storm of superlatives, fan-favorites “Dancin’ in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” served as the last originals of the evening. To close out his lengthy encore, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band covered The Top Notes’ Beatles-popularized “Twist and Shout”.
Finally, Bruce and the gang tipped their hats to Tom Waits with an apropos cover of “Jersey Girl”. The song’s final verse summarizes summer in most NJ beach towns, but especially in Asbury Park: “’Cause down the shore everything’s all right / You and your baby on a Saturday night / Nothing matters in this whole wide world /When you’re in love with a Jersey girl.”
Sea.Hear.Now represents everything that Asbury Park has done right to reposition itself as the state’s cultural focal point with art, food, and music coexisting together. Having grown up in the same zip code as this city, I have never experienced such positive energy running through the crowd, up and down the boardwalk’s diverse scenes. You take out what you put in, and anybody that shared this experience saw something that hasn’t been felt in this city in a long time, something that’s been steadily bubbling up over the last twenty years. This past weekend was the pinnacle of Asbury Park’s resurgence. Sea.Hear.Now 2024 helped cemented the city’s legacy.
Thank you to everyone responsible for organizing, attending, and enjoying this incredible weekend down the Shore. Happy birthday, Stone Pony! Thanks for the memories.
[Photo: Roger Ho courtesy of Sea.Hear.Now 2024 – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, 9/15/24]
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