On a beautiful local summer weekend, Asbury Park once again played host to the 2024 edition of the Sea Hear Now. The festival was sold out and the crowd was buzzing because you-know-who was coming to our little city by the sea. But the stacked lineup also featured a variety of musical styles and genres plus some Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, with every act stepping up their game.

The Revivalists, The Black Crowes, Grace Potter, 311, Trey Anastasio, Norah Jones, The Gaslight Anthem, Action Bronson, and Kool & The Gang all delivered star level performances. The Hives proved why they are our “new favorite band” and on the verge of stardom with an incredible set at The Park Stage. Night 1 headliner Noah Kahan treated his dedicated fans to an amazing performance on Saturday night. Only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band got a louder reaction from the crowd.

As usual, the New Jersey music scene was well represented with local standouts Sunshine Spazz, Sonic Blume, and Rachel Ana Dobken starting off each day. The Robert Randolph Band (City of Orange) and Joe P (Asbury Park) were also featured on Day 1. In this writer’s opinion, Sunshine Spazz had one of the better sets of the weekend kicking off Day 2 with a jolt of lighting.

Danny Clinch’s Transparent Tent once again provided an intimate setting for fans to get up close to some of this year’s lineup, with the theme being how art impacted their music. The tent hosted some of the bigger names from the weekend including Grace Potter, David Shaw of The Revivalists, The Gaslight Anthem, Guster, and Robert "Kool" Bell. It also featured a number of this year’s local bands making appearances. And as always, it was cool to see the artistic side of the musicians who had their work on display.

Of course the star of the weekend was New Jersey’s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen. It had been a long six years since he joined Social Distortion on stage at the inaugural Sea Hear Now, but it sure was worth the wait. Not only did Bruce and the E Street Band give the crowd an epic performance to close out the festival, but he also made a surprise appearance at the Ocean Avenue Stomp at The Stone Pony Saturday night and joined The Gaslight Anthem and Trey Anastasio during their sets.

I’ve been to all six Sea Hear Nows and have seen some amazing acts close out the festival, but Bruce and the E Street Band blew them all away. They played for over three hours with arguably one of their best setlists ever. The sea of fans on the beach seemed to stretch all the way to Ocean Grove and there was barely room to move on the boardwalk. That doesn’t even include the hundreds of fans lining the streets outside of the festival, or the locals singing and dancing on their balconies and porches.

Yes, Bruce did show up…and he gave Asbury Park a magical night it won’t soon forget.

Day 1

From top: Noah Kahan, 311, The Black Crowes, The Hives, The Revivalists, Guster, Passafire, Sonic Blume

Day 2

From Top: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Gaslight Anthem, Action Bronson, Kool & The Gang, BERTHA: Grateful Drag, Sunshine Spazz

Be sure to follow Asbury Park Vibes for our Sea Hear Now Standouts, which will feature expanded photo galleries of some of our favorite acts from this year’s festival.