Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing in front of 35,000 people on the Asbury Park beachfront was not merely a once in a lifetime concert — it was a defining cultural moment in the history of the State of New Jersey.
The music of Bruce Springsteen put the city of Asbury Park on the map. The music of Bruce Springsteen kept the city on the map when it fell into the deep, dark chasm of ruin — when the beaches were empty, when buildings were boarded up like a war zone, and drugs, crime and poverty ran the streets. It was the music of Bruce Springsteen that served as the inspiration for so many to take a chance on Asbury Park and open up businesses and begin their creative careers. It was his legacy that kept the music scene going, and paved the way for some many to hit the big time.
Now, 20+ years after his last full concert in Asbury Park, he stood there with a massive grin on his face and a twinkle mixed with a tear in his eye as he started chanting “Asbury Park!” It wasn’t a cheap pop to get the audience to react — he had them in the palm of his hands the moment he stepped on stage. No, this was him exclaiming to the world his pride, his love and his admiration of the city and the people who resurrected his beloved city by the sea from a post apocalyptic wasteland into the thriving beach town it’s become. His dream for this city has come true, and he couldn’t be more happy or proud.
And that’s what Sea.Hear.Now is all about. It’s the celebration of Asbury Park’s past, present and future. Since 2018, this festival has been filled with artists waxing nostalgic about their first time performing in the city or how it was their first time ever being there. It’s filled with bands who’ve played the Stone Pony a million times, and artists who’ve been on people’s wish lists for their entire lives. It’s a festival that celebrates the local, original musicians, artists, restaurants, surfers and vibes of the city that Bruce Springsteen built, but it’s also a festival that reflects the new era of Asbury Park that’s filled with high rises, million dollar condos and new money who have come here because it’s the hip place to be.
Yet, this one man from Freehold, NJ along with his band of merry men and women stood on stage and reminded us that no matter our valid, passionate, informed (or uninformed) takes on the rebirth of Asbury Park is — this is still Bruce Springsteen’s city. It’s the one thing we can all agree on. His music is the soundtrack of this city — it’s glory days, it is becoming the darkness on the edge of town, and it’s rising into a city where tens of thousands of people came to gather to celebrate the joys of music.
And Bruce Springsteen took no credit. He thanked the LGBTQ+ community for being the first people to invest in the city, he thanked photographer Danny Clinch for the festival, and he thanked the crowd for making everything we saw on this night which took over two decades to come to fruition, happen. It was his night to thank us for everything, and the crowd in turn thanked The Boss for being the music of our lives.
The set Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band performed was filled with the requisite hits, but it felt much, much more personal. So many of the songs we heard made references to Freehold, Asbury Park, Loch Arbour, Wanamassa, Belmar and towns around the greater Jersey Shore area.
In full disclosure, the E Street Band’s Sea.Hear.Now performance was this reviewer’s first time ever seeing the band perform. This has to be made clear because there is a sense of awe and wonder in these words that a seasoned Springsteen concert goer may not have felt on this night, or maybe they’re already experienced it.
As stated before, Bruce Springsteen took this show personally and he made it personal. His exuberance only grew as the three-plus hour set raged on. And somehow, the 70+ year old singer somehow got better vocally as the night went on (note that he performed the night before at The Stone Pony, plus during The Gaslight Anthem and The Trey Anastasio Band’s set). It was incredible to see his presence grow larger and larger as the night passed, while so many artists — no matter the age — would be out of gas by the hour mark. It seemed that with every reference to New Jersey it only invigorated him more and more.
The E Street Band itself is an absolute monster of a band. The Boss leads this band so perfectly, giving everyone their spotlight. Max Weinberg, Nils Lofgren, Little Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent and Jake Clemmons — all of them are incredible. Clemmons, the nephew of the late Clarence Clemmons, stole so many songs and the crowd responded in kind. Patti Scialfa, the wife of Bruce Springsteen who has not been a regular with the band since her cancer diagnosis, came out for an emotional duet of “Tougher Than the Rest” — a song that brought so many to tears.
The highlights of the set? We could be here for 5,000 more words on just how good this set was. All the hits were better than you’d expect. The deep cuts became your new favorite songs. It was an immaculate set.
Best concert ever? Best concert ever.
Here’s the entire Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Setlist (via setlist.fm):
Lonesome Day
Blinded by the Light
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?
Growin’ Up
The Promised Land
Spirit in the Night
Thundercrack
The E Street Shuffle
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Hungry Heart
Local Hero
Atlantic City
Tougher Than the Rest (with Patti Scialfa)
Long Walk Home
Racing in the Street
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Encore #1:
Meeting Across the River
Jungleland
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Twist and Shout (The Top Notes cover)
Encore #2:
Jersey Girl (Tom Waits cover)
The Festival:If you were wondering if festival organizers addressed the concerns raised last year — they definitely did. There seemed to be more opportunities to get on and off the beach, way more speakers, and screens mid-beach for those who would inevitably be a mile away from the Surf Stage.
As the festival grows, a cavalcade of corporate sponsors continues to roll into Asbury Park for the weekend. Longtime sponsors Aperol Spritz, Hendricks Gin, and Tito’s Handmade Vodka were joined by Bud Light, Corona, Twisted Tea and Dwayne Johnson’s Teremana Tequila this year. Wyndham Hotels set up a bar in the middle of Bradley Park offering libations and the opportunity to win week-long vacations. Shopping site Rakuten set up shop with an arcade where good dads bought Squishmallows for their kids (yes, I was good dads). Verizon gave free parking in the carousel lot to its customers, while Cisco provided the Wi-Fi. Even Netflix got in on the act sponsoring the late show shows.
Art Tent: While the festival grounds were abounding with mainstream, corporate installations — the Transparent Art Gallery‘s Tent remained a bastion of independent artistic expression. In years past the tent has been SHN’s best kept secret. The art is usually fantastic and is sold for charitable causes. There’s killer one-off drop-in performances and maybe even some luminary gives a couple words to the crowd.
This year, the art tent was no secret at all. Those who knew, knew that this was the place to constantly check out as it was loaded with big name acts performing either before or after their sets. On Saturday the resplendent Grace Potter jammed onstage with festival organizer and harmonica purveyor Danny Clinch. She announced she’d be dropping a long unreleased album produced by T-Bone Burnett as well as some new music in the coming months. Then she kicked it into high gear with a fiery, yet stripped down version of her big hit “Paris (Ooh La La) with her band.
On Sunday, local favorites Sunshine Spazz — who opened the day — performed to a rabid crowd that after their final song were begging the local faves to play a few more. Less than an hour later Danny Clinch would emerge with Alex Levine and Alex Rosamilia from The Gaslight Anthem. The duo spoke about their music influencing their art, and how they would ply their artistic flare to drummer Benny Horowitz’s drumheads after shows.
Park Stage:Â Pop Break is on record that the Park Stage is one of generally the best stage at Sea.Hear.Now. For years we’ve caught brilliant, fan-making performances from Tash Sultana, Nathaniel Raetliff & the Night Sweats, My Morning Jacket, Wet Leg, Idles, Billy Strings, White Denim and a little band you might’ve heard of called, Goose. This year was no different, as Park was absolutely loaded to the gills with big time, head-turning, fan-creating performances.
Robert Randolph & The Family Band (featuring Tash Neal): You know a festival line-up is deep when this wildly talented New Jersey native who has packed The Stone Pony throughout his career is in the early part of Saturday afternoon. The Orange, NJ native brought the wildly talented guitarist Tash Neal (who some may remember from The London Souls) on as his lead guitarist. The set had the early dancing and grooving, and set the correct vibe for the beautifully lit Saturday show.
Guster: Ryan Miller self-effacingly exclaimed “Hey guys, you know we’re not 311, right?” as he surveyed an absolute sea of people who came out to see the trio. Jokes aside, Miller’s vocals are still as pristine as they were when the band broke out on the college radio scene back in the day. The band got a big sing-a-long moment with their monster hit “Amsterdam” and provided a breezy set (on a day we prayed for a breeze).
Photo Credit: Roger Ho for Sea.Hear.Now/Courtesy of C3 Presents
The Hives: Last year Pop Break covered The Hives from the world famous Troubadour in Los Angeles, and the photos our music editor caught of them sent chills up and down our spines — we knew they were coming to Sea.Hear.Now and the holy rock ‘n’ roll fury they would unleash on Asbury Park would be the stuff of legend. Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, the frontman of The Hives, battled the tired and sweaty crowd (that heat was no joke, and impacted a number of fan reactions Saturday) to get them invested in the Swedish garage rock outfit. That dogged determinism paid off as they burnt the place down with their big radio hits “Idiot Walk” and “Hate to Say I told You So.” This band left Asbury with a legion of new fans — much like we saw with IDLES and Wet Leg two years ago.
311: The high-energy live experience is as second nature to 311 as having abs is to their lead singer Nick Hexum. The band is a lot heavier live than you would expect, and that energy really woke up the sweaty, tired festival crowd. And just as the band got everyone fired up, they brought everyone over the age of 40 back to high school with “All Mixed Up” which is just as chill and fun as it was back in the day. The stage presence and chemistry this band has is staggering, but makes sense since it’s had the same lineup since 1991. They just know how to almost automatically react to each other and it just makes the crowd experience that much more jubilant.
Eggy: The band delivered the perfect Sunday vibes from the Park Stage. Like a good hangover breakfast, the New England-born jam band was able to nourish the spirit with soulful vocals and harmonies and ethereal instrumentals, but like a good Blood Mary they gave the audience right kick (a la a Bloody Mary) to get the audience out their collective haze and to get ready for the rest of the festival. Much like Goose a few years back, this band is not long for a Sunday afternoon hangover set. They have been long touted in the jam scene by a lot of smart people, and this band lived up to the hype laid upon them.
Norah Jones:Â The smooth jazz and blues sound of Norah Jones was a hell of dichotomy to the concurrent set Action Bronson was doing on the beach. Yet, that’s what makes Sea.Hear.Now, Sea.Hear.Now. Jones is as good as advertised, sounding better than she does on record. Her charming presence and smooth sounds drew a gigantic crowd who flocked to her stage, making it nearly impossible to get across festival grounds. She played a number of cuts from her new record Visions which dropped earlier this year.
The Gaslight Anthem: One of the big concerts about this set was — who was going to actually see it? Asbury loves Gaslight, but with their set ending five minutes before Bruce Springsteen came on, there was worry it’d be sparse. Well, about mid-afternoon word got out that The Boss may be performing the boys from New Brunswick (something he’s done in the past), and the crowd took that rumor seriously. Good thing they did, because The Boss came out and performed “History Books” the band’s title track from their latest album, as well as “American Slang.” Thinking about this set even days later is send chills and feelings of joy throughout this reviewer’s soul. It was a roaring duet between Bruce Springsteen and Brian Fallon. After Springsteen left the stage, the band hit “’59 Sound” to a very jammed Park Stage and ripped through an absolutely killer set. It was great to see these guys back after a few year hiatus, and they have no lost a step at all … in fact they might be better than ever?
Sand Stage
Joe P: We have to take this one personally. It was incredible to see Joe P on one of the big stages. He’s come a long, long way from Sunday night residencies at The Saint or headlining Pop Break’s Locals Christmas Show in 2017 with his former band Deal Casino. The Red Bank-based singer’s new album Garden State Vampire has caught a lot of airplay on local and satellite radio, and Joe’s fierce touring schedule has garnered him quite the following, which was evident by a deep, early afternoon crowd. This man has star written all over him, so be on the watch for him in years to come.
Grace Potter: Grace Potter sauntered onto the Sand Stage to perform her third of four sets from the weekend as if she had just spent a month on vacation in the tropics. She was refreshed, energized and ready to melt faces. Her aura is off the charts, and she had the vocal power that audiences could clearly hear her on the other side of the beach — which is a hell of a distance.
Action Bronson: This set brings up a lot of questions. If you’re a fan of Action Bronson then you adored this set. The furious passion he dropped bars with was infectious. His constant pro wrestling references were appreciated by many (or just me). His backing band was absolutely wild as they brought this groovy bluesy, jazzy Latin-tinged vibe to every song (with some wicked guitar solos thrown in). However, you could tell that Bam Bam Baklava’s liberal usage of the F bomb did not sit well with those rocking Springsteen shirts. One does wonder if this was the litmus test for hip-hop at SHN, and will this genre be represented by bigger artists in more prime timeslots down the road for the festival.
Surf Stage:
Sierra Farrell: The eclectic songstress brought a familiar sound to the Surf Stage — a unique, out of the box take on folk, country and bluegrass. Orville Peck (a set we think about to this day), The Avett Brothers and Daniel Donato & Cosmic Country have all brought their taken on these genres to Surf with varying degrees of success. Farrell, dressed as though she walked out of a scene from Westworld Season 1, was not here to convert the masses, but play her music. At one point she employed a train whistle toy into her set. That’s the definition of uncompromising.
The Revivalists: A fantastic band, that unfortunately suffered from a crowd who was absolutely sapped of energy due to the unforgiving heat or were there solely to see Noah Kahan. The Revivalists are wildly talented and truly live up to their name — reviving a classic rock ‘n’ roll/blues sound through a modern, hipper edge. Would love to see these guys get a solo show in Asbury Park to really show off just how good they are.
The Black Crowes: “Kids, this f*cking rock ‘n’ roll music.” Chris Robinson did not care if there were kids parked to see New England’s favorite singer/songwriter — The Black Crowes were at the Surf Stage to bring you to church. The reunited Brothers Robinson played with the same gusto and abandon that was present during their heyday in the ’90s. Chris still struts and preens onstage while wailing like a sacred spirit, while the quieter Rich Robinson shreds like there’s no tomorrow. This band turned out their hits like “Thorn in My Pride,” “Twice as Humble,” and “Sunday Song” with a freshness and ferocity while their latest anthem “Waiting and Wanting” bounced around the festival grounds like a beach ball. In short — this was a hell of a fun time.
Noah Kahan: The median age level of the festival dropped by about 10 years as Noah Kahan drew the youngest crowd we’ve ever seen at Sea.Hear.Now. Green Day drew a wide age range, but nowhere near as young as the red hot New England singer/songwriter. For those old heads who might not have been as hyped to see Kahan — they were in for a huge surprise. Kahan delivered a youthful and exuberant set, and his songs felt very much like they were written by a guy who was obsessed with Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen. Kahan converted a lot of people into fans (read: the parents of those young fest-goers) with his set, and it’ll be very, very interesting to see this singer’s career trajectory in the future. It should also be noted his backing band is excellent.
Since he’s a headliner, we’ve included his setlist (via setlist.fm):
Dial Drunk
New Perspective
Everywhere, Everything
She Calls Me Back
You’re Gonna Go Far
False Confidence
Forever
Growing Sideways (solo acoustic)
All My Love
Call Your Mom
Northern Attitude
Orange Juice
Homesick
Encore:
Young Blood (solo acoustic)
The View Between Villages
Stick Season
Joy Oladukun: The Nashville-based singer/songwriter was in the Sunday hangover vibes set on the Surf. The on stage banter felt like some of the most real and honest words we’ve heard from an out of town band before. Oladukun discussed honest feelings and it was extremely refreshing and relatable. They’re a tremendously evocative storyteller lyrically which garnered strong reactions from the crowd. Their cover of “Black Bird” was top notch.
Kool & The Gang: The soon-to-be-inducted Rock + Roll Hall of Fame act was in the nostalgia time slot. This slot is often the one where people scratch their head and say, “Huh, this band, really? Kool & The Gang, much like The B52’s, Boy George & Culture Club and The Beach Boys (with John Stamos) in previous years, blew away the audience with a super tight set of hit after hit. Honestly, it was wild to realize they are the purveyors of just so many hits. This band showed out and had the very early “parking for Bruce” crowd moving and dancing in the way you would think a “parking for Bruce” crowd would.
Trey Anastasio Band: Phish fans rejoice! While the band seems like a natural fit to headline the festival, having the lead singer jam on the beach will have to suffice. The Trey Anastasio Band is exactly what you’d expect it to be — a bunch of super tight musicians who can improvise their brains off, and there’s a dude playing a steel washboard with the spoons. Yup, exactly like you’d think it would. The set was really good, but the highlight had to be when Trey spoke with the audience about his first concert ever — Bruce Springsteen. Bruce’s three-hour show is what inspired the way Phish plays, and he said he invited Bruce to play. And low behold, The Boss came on stage. They jammed for a bit in wonderful harmony and then did a rousing rendition of E-Street’s early tune “Kitty’s Back.”
