I have been to three Sea.Hear.Now festivals at Asbury Park, New Jersey over the past several years as a home town East Coaster. But when I heard that Springsteen was headlining the show this September 14-15, 2024 in Asbury, I knew I was not going to miss this one. I got my passes to photograph the event and called up Session Magazine to see if they were interested in highlighting the event as well as my photographing several other stops with a visit to my old stomping grounds in Hatteras, North Carolina for their WINTER24 issue. “Let’s see what you get," was more or less the answer.
I grew up surfing in Virginia Beach and Cape Hatteras before I left for Hawaii when I graduated high school back in ‘75. I have revisited the area many times, but have never photographed it professionally and thought it would be a cool idea to spend some time seeing what beauty I could capture from my old haunts.
The Sea.Hear.Now event ended up being at the beginning of my trip back east this September and I flew up to New Jersey after spending only a few days at home in Virginia to see the show. This event has such a cool vibe, right up my alley, with music and surfing being its focal points., As far as I know, it is the only one of its kind. I would bet there were 50,000 people there in Asbury that weekend and the weather was fantastic.
The surf, as East Coast surf can do, ended up being fair to average, but that was not nearly as important as the camaraderie of hanging out with fellow surfers who had traveled from other locales to be in New Jersey for the show and participate in the expression session. I was privileged to see old friends that I shoot in Hawaii and other exotic places around the world at this event. I ran into Mike Gleason, Sammy Hammer, Tommy Ihnkin, and Balaram Stack among others. There was just enough surf to have fun and perform for the crowds while listening to kick ass grooves rolling down to the beach from the main stage.
The two-day concert for Sea.Hear.Now had thirty or so performers with highlights from the show - for me - including The Black Crows, Grace Potter, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio and, of course, The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. I've been able to see Bruce in concert probably seven or eight times in my life since the early 1970’s and, this year, with 3.5 hours of performing time in front of his hometown crowd of Asbury Park, Bruce pulled out all the stops. He performed all the songs I wanted to hear and, with the photo pass that I got from Danny Clinch and crew to shoot the first three songs of the show, I was in heaven. I have seen over two hundred concerts during the course of my life and I'm saying this one, with Bruce and the others wailing at Asbury Park, was the best show of my life. Ever.
