Sea Hear Now Festival in NJ Brings Stevie Nicks, Green Day and a Packed Lineup to the Land of Bruce
variety.comMichele Amabile Angermiller Not long into her headlining set on the first day of the fourth annual Sea Hear Now festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Stevie Nicks had a question for the thousands stretched across the beach. “Is this the world of Bruce Springsteen?” she asked to enthusiastic cheers. “OK, we’re driving through, and there’s a street sign and I asked that same question and nobody really answered, at least like you guys just did.” Springsteen is certainly a part of the tapestry of the town, and was well-represented in photographer/festival organizer Danny Clinch’s art tent.
But the city has an ever-evolving musical scene, and the beachside setting was its own draw on a weekend of warm, beautiful days and picturesque nights, with an ocean breeze enveloping Nicks and her flowing scarves, creating an ambience — or as she described it, a “fairytale” — only Mother Nature can provide.
A red crescent moon peeking through the overhead clouds added to the mystique on the final weekend of summer and beginning of the fall season, or as Nicks — in a nod to her fans donning witch hats and Stevie-attire on the sand — framed it: “it’s almost Halloween.” “I would like to thank Danny Clinch for putting on this amazing festival,” Nicks said. “To have a festival right on the ocean is pretty spectacular.
I live on the ocean so for me I feel like I’m right at home.” Sunday headliner Green Day has some history in Asbury Park, having first appeared at the Stone Pony when concerts were in a tent, supporting “Dookie” at the time, and later on performing inside Convention Hall.
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