What a way to close out the eighth annual Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park!
On a day that was meant to be slammed with showers, high winds, and the cold, Sea.Hear.Now avoided all of that on Sunday night of Sea.Hear.Now, where The Strokes led New Jersey through an iconic rock set.
Still, in the eight years that Sea.Hear.Now has been operating, the festival has never experienced issues with weather. In fact, last night was one of the first times the event has even faced weather concerns at all.
The Strokes led the Asbury Park crowd to huge singalongs throughout the night, including their new songs, which despite the autotune that received a lot of criticism, were still awesome and fit in well with the others.
Lead singer Julian Casablancas has his own swag that seems mellow but carries enough weight to lead the headlining role. Though he didn’t say much — and when he did, it was strange — The Strokes felt at home in Asbury, not far from their actual home in New York City.
The Goo Goo Dolls were up before The Strokes, and the crowd sizes were just about the same for both. Though the festival felt emptier and more spacious throughout the day than it did on Saturday, it really packed in towards the end of the night.
Goo had everything the 7:00 p.m. slot asks for. Hit after hit, a guest appearance from Danny Clinch on harmonica during “Broadway,” and “Iris,” which may just be the most popular song of all time. Plus, it helps that lead singer Johnny Rzeznik is a Jersey guy, calling Westfield his “adopted home” of the past 10 years. He appeared at The Stone Pony on Saturday night, played in the Clinch Gallery Art Tent, and has performed at the last two Light of Day Festivals in Red Bank.
Pixies closed out the Sand Stage between Goo and The Strokes. The band had just about the biggest crowd I’ve seen on that stage, and probably should have been booked for the Surf Stage, or at the very least, the Park Stage. It was a serious battle getting in and out of that crowd on the beach and back onto the boardwalk.
Ziggy Marley brought great vibes to the Park Stage, including a bunch of hits from Bob Marley, his father.
Moby was a real surprise for Sea.Hear.Now. He and LCD Soundsystem have carried the electronic sound over the past two years, and I — along with many other festival goers — hope Sea.Hear.Now continues to book electronic acts in the future.
Another huge suprise was Status Green, a local Asbury Park band who opened the Park Stage. Though I say local, the band is well-established and has been around for over 20 years at this point. The band played a stellar main set, and also performed inside the Art Tent. It was the first time I had ever seen an encore requested inside the tent, and they delivered.
The last big surprise was King Stingray, who opened the Surf Stage. The group sung songs in a mix of both English and their native indigenous-Australian language, and brought along plenty of native instruments with them. It was a great vibe and another band to add to the list of Australians booked for Sea.Hear.Now!
