Sea.Hear.Now Festival

Sea.Hear.Now Festival
Status	Active
Genre	Music festival
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	1300 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States
Years active	2018–present
Inaugurated	September 29, 2018 (2018-09-29)
Website	seahearnowfestival.com

Paramount Theatre at Asbury Park Convention Hall at nightfall with the Atlantic Ocean behind it.

Asbury Park South, a 1920 painting by Jazz Age artist Florine Stettheimer depicts the beach and boardwalk at Asbury Park where the festival is now held.[1]

Asbury Park beach

The Sea.Hear.Now Festival (aka Sea Hear Now or SHN) is an annual music, art and ocean sustainability festival featuring a professional surfing competition held in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[2] Held on the beach and boardwalk in September, it is produced by, among others, rock photographer Danny Clinch, Tim Donnelly, HM Wollman, and C3 Presents’ Tim Sweetwood.[3]

Digital pop culture magazine The Pop Break named Sea.Hear.Now the best new music festival of the year in 2018.[4][5] Billed as a celebration of live music, art, and surf culture, a portion of proceeds go to ocean-focused and environmental charities such as the Surfrider Foundation and Save the Bay.[3]

After the festival's operating hours, SHN is also known for late night local shows at a variety of live music venues in Asbury Park such as The Stone Pony, House of Independents, The Saint, Asbury Lanes, and Wonder Bar.

Previous festivals

The festival has held annual shows since 2018, excluding 2020 in light of the pandemic.

2018

• Blondie
• Bruce Springsteen
• Social Distortion
• Incubus
• Jack Johnson
• Ben Harper
• Kaleo
• Brandi Carlile
• SOJA
• Frank Turner
• The Wailers
• Preservation Hall Jazz Band

2019

• Dave Matthews Band
• The Lumineers
• Dispatch
• Marcus King
• Joan Jett
• Bad Religion
• The B-52’s
• Blind Melon
• Cat Power
• Steel Pulse
• Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise

2020

The 2020 festival was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021

• Pearl Jam
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Patti Smith
• Billy Idol
• Ani Difranco
• Cory Henry
• Lord Huron
• Matt & Kim
• Orville Peck
• The Avett Brothers
• Tank and the Bangas

2022

The 2022 festival was held on September 17-18, 2022.

Saturday

• Stevie Nicks
• My Morning Jacket
• Billy Strings
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Boy George & Culture Club
• Fletcher
• The Backseat Lovers
• Peach Pit
• Skip Marley
• Celisse
• Annie DiRusso
• Aly & AJ
• The Surfrajettes
• Dogs In A Pile
• Dentist

Sunday

• Green Day
• Cage the Elephant
• The Head and the Heart
• Idles
• Wet Leg
• Courtney Barnett
• Michael Franti and Spearhead
• Tai Verdes
• Shakey Graves
• Andy Frasco & The UN
• Cimafunk
• The Little Mermen
• Calder Allen
• Lost in Society
• The Vansaders

Surf

The 2022 festival featured pro surfers including, among others, Cory Lopez, Sam Hammer, Cassidy McClain and Eric Geiselman. The surfers competed in the "North Beach Rumble", a team surf contest.

Late Night Shows

The 2022 Festival included four "Late Night Shows" that took place after the festival's normal operating hours. Shows took place at Asbury Park local venues, such as The Stone Pony and The Wonder Bar, featuring The Backseat Lovers, Gods, Yawn, The Ocean Ave Stomp and The Surfajettes.

2023

The 2023 festival was held on September 16-17, 2023.

Saturday

• The Killers
• Greta Van Fleet
• Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
• Sheryl Crow
• Tash Sultana
• Royal Blood
• Bob Moses
• Cory Wong
• Oteil & Friends
• Living Colour
• Babe Rainbow
• Surfer Girl
• SNACKTIME
• Quincy Mumford
• Yawn Mower

Sunday

• Foo Fighters
• Weezer
• Rebelution
• Mt. Joy
• The Beach Boys
• The Breeders
• Tegan & Sara
• Stephen Sanchez
• Joey Valence & Brae
• Adam Melchor
• Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country
• Easy Star All-Stars
• Sunflower Bean
• Waiting on Mongo
• Alexander Simone & Whodat?

2024

In March 2024, the festival announced its line-up for September 14-15, 2024:

Saturday

• Noah Kahan
• The Black Crowes
• 311
• The Revivalists
• The Hives
• Grace Potter
• Sierra Ferrell
• Peaches
• Guster
• Ziggy Alberts
• Robert Randolph Band
• Passafire
• Sonic Blume
• Joe P

Sunday

• Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
• The Gaslight Anthem
• Trey Anastasio Band
• Norah Jones
• Kool & the Gang
• Action Bronson
• Gogol Bordello
• Larkin Poe
• Joy Oladokun
• The Aces
• Eggy
• Illiterate Light
• Bertha
• Sunshine Spazz
• Rachel Ana Dobken

Surf

• Balaram Stack
• Cam Richards
• Sam Hammer
• Cassidy McClain
• Rob Kelly
• Paul Francisco
• Pat Schmidt
• Mike Gleason
• Tommy Ihnken
• Logan Kamen
• Jamie DeWitt
• Cole Deveney
• Audrey Iglay

See also

• North to Shore Festival
• Music of Asbury Park
• New Jersey music venues by capacity
• The Aquarian Weekly

References

1. This 1920 painting depicts a summer crowd at the south end of Asbury Park, including a sign for a July 4, 1920, Asbury Park performance by the Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso. The artist is under a green parasol, several of her friends are also recognizable. Artist Marcel Duchamp (pink suit) walks with the actress Fania Marinoff. Carl Van Vechten stands on the elevated structure left (black suit), Avery Hopwood (white suit, right side) talks with a woman in a yellow dress, the Swiss painter Paul Thévanaz (red bathing suit) bends over a camera. Henry, McBride, Florine Stettheimer, The Museum of Modern Art 1946.
2. Mital, Sachyn (23 October 2019). "Sea.Hear.Now Wildly Successful in Second Year, PopMatters".
3. Cohen, Jonathan (June 3, 2021). "Rock Photographer Danny Clinch Talks Sea.Hear.Now Fest, Featuring Pearl Jam's First U.S. Show in Three Years".
4. "Why Sea.Hear.Now 2018 Was The Best New Music Festival of the Year", The Pop Break, October 22, 2018. Accessed March 17, 2020.
5. Oglesby, Amanda. "Asbury Park's Sea.Hear.Now festival a major success", "Asbury Park Press", September 30, 2018. Accessed March 17, 2020.

External links

• Official website