blink-182 stuns crowd at closing night of Sea.Hear.Now Festival

blink-182 capped off Sea.Hear.Now with a short but sweet set on an action packed Sunday.

The day kicked off in the strongest way with the reunion of 4 Non Blondes. Led by Linda Perry, the band performed a set of new and unreleased songs, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind.

It was the band’s fourth show in 31 years, and the band seemed like they were having all sorts of fun on stage. Perry walked out to a partial, a cappella performance of “What’s Up?” before closing with the full track 12 songs later.

Right before them, Grace Bowers, at just 18 years old, commanded the Park Stage with her award-winning guitar playing and band.

A few songs in, Bowers introduced Flavor Flav to the stage to perform, which really leveled up an already impressive performance.

In the mid-afternoon, Flavor Flav hit the main stage with his own group, Public Enemy, reuniting himself with Chuck D.

The group was killing it as they welcomed unexpected guest Run-DMC to the stage to perform “It’s Tricky.”

Lenny Kravitz followed with a loud and electric set, despite cramming all of his hits at the very end. The vibe was off to a slow start as Kravitz took the stage 10 minutes late, but nonetheless, he put on a good show, and was the first artist of the weekend to use pyro.

Lenny Kravitz performing at Sea.Hear.Now on Sept. 14, 2025 // Dusana Risovic for Sea Hear Now

Most of the older crowd there for Kravitz rushed over the Sublime, who was headlining the Park Stage. The band, newly reunited with Jakob Nowell, had an electric mix of reggae and punk rock.

Finally, blink-182 capped off the weekend on the Surf Stage.

The show was part of the “Missionary Impossible” tour, and their first show in New Jersey since their headlining set at Adjacent Festival as part of their reunion tour.

The band killed it. Whether you are a lifelong blink fan or just know the hits, it was a fun set. Introduced by UFC announcer Bruce Buffer (on video), the band played a set with tons of deep cuts and closed with the big hits, with pyro throughout and a concluding set of fireworks.

With Travis Barker reportedly testing CoVID-19 the morning of, the band was still able to perform after Barker’s Instagram post confirming the diagnosis was quickly deleted.

Within all of the typical juvenile jokes you’d expect at a blink show, singer Tom DeLonge paused for an emotional moment during “Stay Together for the Kids.”

DeLonge stated that he “just put together the lyrics of that song,” referring to “so when you’re dead and gone.” He said that the moment hit hard as he remembered his father passing away three years ago, and that despite life’s hard moments, blink’s message to the world is to keep pushing happiness.

“Forcing happiness through brute strength” is the message behind the band’s smiley face logo, according to DeLonge.

After getting through the emotions, the band finished strong with their biggest hits from the ’90s, ultimately ending with “Dammit,” accompanied by a firework show.