Pop Break Live: Sea Hear Now 2025 at The Asbury Park Beach + Bradley Park in Asbury Park, New Jersey on Saturday September 13 and Sunday September 14, 2025
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Words by Bill Bodkin | Photos by Kimberly Wessels | All Setlists via Setlist.fm
The normal goal for a music festival is simple — top the year before.
However, with Sea.Hear.Now topping a previous year that featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing on the beach and in the city they put on the map for the first time in over 20 years … simply cannot be topped.
And, Sea.Hear.Now 2025 didn’t need to top a magic night anchored by the band that put Asbury Park on the map.
No, what this festival needed was to continue to introduce music lovers to new artists, curate sets that would speak to the souls of specific age groups, and find a way to unite generations through the power of music. Sea.Hear.Now 2025 accomplished this with aplomb and ease. Long gone were crowds coming solely for headliners.
The festival also needed to expand its musical palette — satiating the need of audiences who demanded hip-hop be brought to the forefront of the festival. Sets from genre legends Public Enemy and De La Soul did just that.
Sea.Hear.Now needed to create more space for its ever-growing fanbase and plus the audio visual experience. It also needed to reignite its connection with the Asbury Park community. Expansion to the south side of the beach, and incorporation of local business from a vendor standpoint brought that back.
Simply put, the weekend was what Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes said – “a nice sunset, nice waves, and nice vibes.”
Yes, as the kids would say (and they’re right) the vibes of Sea.Hear.Now 2025 were pristine. All the scrappy, bootstrapping Asbury Park spirit that fueled the early years of the festival melded perfectly with the big budget, shoot-the-works spectacle the festival has grown into. The massive crowds felt more open — both literally and figuratively — while the music felt timeless, connecting spiritually to the audience. And, once again, the weather gods once again smiled down upon the City that Bruce Built with picture perfect temperatures.
Art Tent: When you walked into SHN you may have noticed the festival grounds were a lot more open this year. This was due to the Transparent Art Gallery‘s Tent taking a new residency on the other side of Convention Hall (the south beach side) right across from The Beach Bar. The new location of the tent did not impede crowds from swarming in to catch a glimpse of exclusive performances and appearances.
The tent anchored a section that featured Asbury Park vendors: Rebel Supply Co., Destination Asbury Boutique, Chris Turk Swim, Vagabond Surf & Co., Patriae and Interwoven. The new location was a way to escape from the bustling Park area to a breezier area that offered a celebration of art. The vendors onsite were all lovely human beings — one has to hope this section will get more added to it, and more promotion going forward.
The tent always features big drop-ins. This year, we caught Flava Flav donating a custom designed clock available for sale that would benefit a number of charities. Surfing for Daisy, fresh off a killer Sunday opening set (more on that later) were in the tent prior to Flav, and delivered another fire performance.
Park Stage: Pop Break is on record that the Park Stage is one of generally the best stages at Sea.Hear.Now. (We call this the “Park Rules” theory). For years we’ve caught brilliant, fan-making performances from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, My Morning Jacket, Wet Leg, Idles, Billy Strings, Goose (before they got huge), and Gaslight Anthem jamming Bruce last year. We’d say this year was no different, but there it was. Two bands has breakout sets breakouts, while one was a definitive celebration of Asburyians of the last three decades.
Inhaler: The Irish band, fronted by Elijah Hewson (Bono’s son), was one of the breakouts. They had one of the biggest, most passionate crowds for an early Saturday at the Park Stage band. This band, like many a Park Stage band before it (looking at you, Goose) is a mere hit away from becoming gigantic in the music world. They had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand with an electric set. Run, don’t walk to catch these lads if they’re playing by you in the near future.
Remi Wolf: Remi Wolf felt as though they came straight off the stage from Lollapalooza 1994 and onto the 2025 Park Stage at Sea.Hear.Now. They have a very grunge vibe that would’ve felt right at home back then. Remi had one of the great quotes of the weekend, “My job is to put my heart into my work, to let you feel free.” The band provided one of the most left field moments of the show with a rousing cover of “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane. Cars fans rejoice.
LCD Soundsystem: It felt as though this set was dedicated to everyone who hung out and went to shows in Asbury Park from 2005 through 2014. The ones who sported regrettable bangs, look like they walked off a Mumford & Sons photo shoot, celebrated all the weirdness of Asbury Park and ultimately, worshipped at the altar of James Murphy.
Murphy, a New Jersey native, interjected little bits and bobs about his Garden State roots including a reference to being a bouncer at City Gardens in Trenton, which popped the crowd. Now, while most would associate a “hometown” show for LCD to be set in Brooklyn, it felt like there was a little extra in this performance in Asbury Park. This was an intense, emotional set (and maybe that’s just LCD – it’s a first-time viewing for this writer) like a prodigal son returning home.
LCD bathed its audience in audio visual masterwork of a set that was spiked with Murphy’s soaring, soulful voice. Highlights of the set included (obviously) “tonite” and the tear-inducing “I Change” and the absolute perfect trilogy of final songs — “Dance Yrself Clean,” “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” and “All My Friends.” As the gigantic disco ball illuminated the stage and the audience alike, all those in attendance knew that they had witnessed something magical on this night.
Setlist:
Tribulations
Movement
Tonite
North American Scum
I Can Change
x-ray eyes
new body rhumba
Someone Great
Dance Yrself Clean
New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down
All My Friends
Surfing for Daisy: Undoubtedly the best opening performance at The Park Stage in the history of Sea.Hear.Now. This is no offense to any other band who’s kicked open Park before, but Surfing for Daisy arrived on Sunday of SHN and poured every ounce of energy, musicianship and charisma into this performance.
The crowd they had was massive, and it felt like the band made it their mission to convert every living soul in the crowd to becoming a Surfing for Daisy fan. The band crushed its set, and then put the exclamation point on the set with their song “Flannel” which melted faces. Run, don’t walk to see them live.
Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge: The 19-year-old guitar prodigy was unfortunately beset with audio problems, so her vocals were washed out. One thing that could not be washed out is her undeniable talent as a guitarist. Grace can shred. Bowers’ talent as a guitarist and frontwoman jump off the page, so it’ll be fun to see her come around for years to come playing bigger venues. Flava Flav would later join the prodigy on stage.
Spoon: Spoon sounds exactly like they do on record. It’s frightening how perfect flawless they sound. Britt Daniel is easily one of the top frontmen in rock music today, and the band built around him is easily one of the tightest. A photographer near our team said it perfectly “Name me a more consistent band than Spoon?” You’d be hard-pressed to find one. The band’s set was highlighted by blazing versions of their monster hits “The Underdog” and “The Hardest Cut.”
TV on the Radio: Another band who was seemingly brought in for those “hipster kids” of the early ’00s who now sport a touch of gray in their hair, and were lucky enough to have a babysitter on Sunday. Tunde Adebimpe, who’s had a massively busy 12 months (a solo record and was a star on Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew), captivated the audience with his one-two punch of soulful, dulcet croons and hyper-caffeinated indie punk hype.
The band also blew this writer away, who only knows the band for their big hits, when there were horns, soulful, and melody mixed throughout the set. It was one of the most impressive sets of the weekend. The band also did not shy away from politics, which didn’t sit well with some of the crowd (a theme of Sunday), but isn’t all supposed to challenge us?
Sublime: Jakob Nowell took the stage like a tornado sent straight from the LBC. The son of the late Bradley Nowell paid homage to the music of his father, and to a part of the world that put Sublime in the highest of pedestals.
It can never be said enough just how much Jakob sounds like his father which further added to the magic of the set. The vocal audio was a bit of an issue for the set as when Jakob would go high or soft on certain notes, he’d get drowned out. The set was teeming with Sublime classics from “Garden Grove” and “April 29, 1992 (Miami)” to “Badfish” and of course, “What I Got.”
Setlist:
Date Rape
Prince of Sin (Falling Idols cover)
Garden Grove
40oz. to Freedom
Smoke Two Joints (The Toyes cover)
Wrong Way
April 29, 1992 (Miami)
Burritos
STP
Greatest Hits
Doin’ Time
Badfish
Romeo
Ensenada
What I Got
Santeria
Same in the End
Sand Stage: The stage where you discover your new favorites and fall back in love with your old ones. Over the years this stage has played host to: Joan Jett, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, The Struts, Dropkick Murphys, Breeders, Courtney Barnett, Marcus King, Bad Religion, Joey Valence & Brae, Action Bronson, Grace Potter, and so many incredible bands. This year, it hosted one of the most important sets of the weekend…
Trombone Shorty: Trombone Shorty was this writer’s must-see set of the weekend outside of LCD Soundsystem. The King of New Orleans (our words, not his) set the tone for Sand Stage — this was going to be a high-energy stage where the artists were going to win the crowds over with their own, unique brand of music.
De La Soul: One of the most important sets of the weekend as hip-hop has been in-demand from the SHN audience since its inception. The reaction for DLS and PE being so positive (critically and crowd-wise) hopefully bodes well for the future of the genre at the festival.
De La Soul brought one of the most unabashedly fun sets Posdnuous/Plug 1 was the ultimate MC — working the crowd like a conductor at a symphony. DJ Maseo brought in on the wheels of steel, and eventually joined his bandmate to the front, just dropping sweet, sweet rhymes to the delight of the entire crowd.
Setlist:
Eye Know
Say No Go
Potholes in My Lawn
Stakes Is High
Get By (Talib Kweli cover with Talib Kweli)
A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”
Me Myself and I
Mannequin Pussy: One word describes this set — uncompromising. Singer Marisa “Missy” Dabice stalked the stage like she owned it, demanding the crowd scream the word “pussy” at the top of their longs. Bold strategy, Cotten … given that this was a Sunday crowd there to see Blink-182 and Sublime. But as they say, fortune favors the bold, and the word “pussy” bellowed from the boardwalk drowning out any sound.
The band also did not give an iota of a care about what the crowd thought of their politics, as they espoused them loudly and proudly. Listen, SHN may have corporate sponsors, and make a lot of money … but at the end of the day, this festival is rooted in Asbury Park, and that punk spirit will not die.
Surf Stage: The granddaddy of them. This is where the headliners close out the night, we get the nostalgic acts, the reunions, and a few surprises in the early afternoon.
ZZ Top: ZZ Top, much like Culture Club, The B52’s, The Beach Boys, and Billy Idol before them, blew the damn doors off the place. When you see an artist like this announced on the list you often wonder to yourself — how good can they be? The answer has been — really, really good.
Billy F Gibbons came out and melted faces with his guitar work while bassist/vocalist Elwood Francis played the widest neck bass most humans have ever, ever seen. The band, playing in front of a stage adorned with speakers and skateboards, blazed through their classics like “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and the banger of all bangers, “La Grange.”
Setlist:
Got Me Under Pressure
I Thank You (Sam & Dave cover)
Gimme All Your Lovin’
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
Sharp Dressed Man
Legs
La Grange
Alabama Shakes: This set was the biggest question of the weekend for this writer. The reunion of The Alabama Shakes is absolutely cool, but you had to wonder — would there be a huge turnout for their set? The answer was an unequivocal and resound, yes. The Alabama Shakes had a sea of humanity amped to 11 to see them before on the beachfront of Asbury Park. The last time we saw them on a Jersey Shore beach was the long-forgotten Gentlemen of the Road in Seaside Heights back in 2015.
Brittany Howard came onto the stage dressed like the queen of all things, rock ‘n’ roll, soul and blues — and during this epic set, she was just that. Listening to hear wail vocally and on guitar as the sun began to get low, and the cool ocean air wafted through the city was the stuff only poets could write about.
Hozier: The gigantic Irish bluesman (seriously he’s very tall) delivered exactly what the tens of thousands of SHN attendees came for — soaring vocals, wicked electric guitar-driven blues blues, and all hits — “Nobody’s Soldier,” “Jackie and Wilson,” “Angel of Small Death and Codeine Scene,” “Too Sweet,” and of course, “Take Me to Church.”
Setlist:
Nobody’s Soldier
Jackie and Wilson
Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene
Dinner & Diatribes
Would That I
Like Real People Do
Eat Your Young
Cherry Wine
Unknown/Nth
Work Song
De Selby (Part 2)
Francesca
It Will Come Back
Too Sweet
Someone New
Almost (Sweet Music)
Movement
Nina Cried Power
Take Me to Church
Neal Francis: Earlier this year we called Neal Francis a star in the making, and this set backed that up. It’s unfortunate he did not have a larger crowd, because this set was absolutely on fire. Francis wielded the microphone and keys with swagger and aplomb.
His voice soared through the sweltering sun, and he got a lot of people dancing, even if they probably should never do it in public (that’s referring to myself, yes). It’d be great to see Francis back in Asbury with a headlining show, as he really could carve out a great niche for himself.
Public Enemy: 100% believe the hype. Chuck D, on the mic, is ungodly good. The booming bass hits hard, and when he calls for drums, you can’t not feel it in your bones. Flava Flav was all over the place at the festival — doing a spot at the Art Tent and with Grace Bowers — and that (combined with the heat) seemed to sap a bit out of him.
PE brought out all their hits — “911 is a Joke,” “He Got Game,” “Bring Tha Noize” and “Welcome to the Terrordome” … “Walk This Way.” At the end of the set they brought Darryl “DMC” McDaniel to cover Run DMC’s famed crossover with Aerosmith.
Setlist:
Don’t Believe the Hype
Shut ‘Em Down
Public Enemy Coming Through
Play Video
Confusion (Here Come the Drums)
911 Is a Joke
He Got Game
State of the Union (STFU)
Harder Than You Think
Bring the Noise
Walk This Way (Run‐D.M.C. cover with DMC)
It’s Tricky (Run‐D.M.C. cover with DMC)
Fight the Power
Blink-182: New Jersey and Blink-182 have a long storied history — from the days of playing Waterloo Village, re-opening The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, summer shows at PNC, and now here at SHN.
The show opened in grandiose, yet still inherently Blink fashion, with Bruce Buffer doing a very long, over the top introduction of the band as if they were fighters. The band performed like a well-oiled machine musically, but still kept that vaunted Blink humor in tow as Tom DeLonge would often crack out crass jokes to break his fellow bandmates. However, it was Hoppus who at one point broke DeLonge who could seemingly not keep it together during “Joise.”
One point of note about Blink — Travis Barker really is that good on drums. We know he guests on a million songs, and drummers love him, but to hear live for the first time, you realize just how incredible he is behind the kit. Blink played all their hits, and the age range of young kids to adults who discovered the band when they were young kids were filled with an unquenchable love for the California kids.
Setlist:
The Rock Show
First Date
Josie
Anthem Part Two
Online Songs
M+M’s
FUCK FACE
Dumpweed
Feeling This
Down
TURPENTINE
CAN’T GO BACK
Wishing Well
Stay Together for the Kids
Roller Coaster
DANCE WITH ME
I Miss You
MORE THAN YOU KNOW
Hope (Descendents cover)
What’s My Age Again?
All the Small Things
Dammit
