Asbury Park’s SeaHearNow festival has been known to bring tens of thousands of music fans into the LGBTQ vacation destination on the Jersey Shore and this year’s September festival was absolutely no exception. Past weekends had everyone from global icons like Stevie Nicks and Orville Peck to local superstars like Remember Jones (who paid homage to Asbury Park drag sensation Tastie during his 2021 set), making Sea.Hear.Now. most definitely, a festival for everyone.
This year, electroclash dynamo Peaches and singer/songwriter Grace Potter were on the roster, but the Sunday night culmination of the weekend included a homecoming of sorts, with The Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Springsteen both showcased on the main Sea.Hear.Now. stage! (The Asbury Park Reporter was on hand throughout the two day festival to showcase both the dynamic music as well as the art and creativity featured throughout the weekend including the Wooden Walls Parade hosted by Wooded Walls founder and Asbury Park art maven Jen Hampton).
The Boss was joined on the main stage by The Gaslight Anthem (The Boss is featured on their latest album on the aptly titled anthem “History Books” with both acts launching into a litany of their greatest hits. When he’s not touring the globe, Gaslight Anthem bass player/backing vocalist Alex Levine is also the owner of IdleHand Barber Shop in Bradley Beach NJ, who were handling haircuts on site for Sea.Hear.Now. A known supporter of the LGBTQ community, Levine and IdleHand Barbershop just opened a West Coast branch (San Diego, CA) and has branched out with the IdleHand Collective brand “cutting hair and braiding artists” at events all over the country!
Springsteen’s words of support for the LGBTQ community have been consistent, with The Boss expressing his support for gay marriage in 2009. From the Sea.Hear.Now stage, Springsteen told the thousands assembled “I just want to take a moment to thank all the people who have invested themselves to bring Asbury Park back to life,” said Springsteen from the stage. “On the East Side, on the West Side — I want to thank the LGBTQ plus community for all they did for Asbury Park in the last 25 years”.
With Shep Pettibone’s Paradise nightclub and Empress Hotel leading the charge (celebrating twenty five years this year), the LGBTQ community has purchased homes, built thriving and longstanding businesses and brought the LGBTQ community to life in Asbury Park, so much so that it is now thought of as one of the leading vacation destinations nationwide for the LGBTQ community. Asbury Park has received accolades everywhere from The New York Times to NBC News, with the NYT calling headlining an article simply “Move Over Fire Island, Here Comes Asbury Park”.
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