Sea.Hear.Now 2026: See The Best Photos
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Snacktime
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The seven-member Philadephia-based band perfomed a funky Friday night set on Cookman Ave., uniting festival goers with their song, “Together.”
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Shepard Fairey and Jon Stewart
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Hope abounds as The Daily Show host Jon Stewart (a New Jersey resident) and artist Shepard Fairey converse at a pre-festival kickoff on Cookman Ave.
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Snacktime
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Snacktime was working double-time, performing at the kickoff for Sea.Hear.Now after having played two shows the night before in New York, one of which included joining Mt. Joy at Madison Square Garden.
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Jarod Clemons
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Jarod Clemons, son of the late Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band, kicked off the festival early on Saturday afternoon blocks away from where his father first met Bruce Springsteen at the Student Prince. A beautiful set featuring songs from his new album, Blinding Lights, Clemons introduced his cousin, Jake Clemons of the E Street Band, for the deeply moving new track, “Troubled Youth.”
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Jake Clemons
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Jake Clemons, nephew of the late Clarence Clemons (and now of the E-Street band himself), posed backstage before joining his cousin, Jarod, for his Sea.Hear.Now debut.
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Steph Strings
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Australian troubadour felt at home performing on the beach, enchanting the crowd with an acoustic set that included her songs, “Lion” and “Devil Woman,” alongside instrumentals, story-telling, jokes, and sing-a-longs. She even threw in a little sorcery for good measure, holding back forecasted rain with prayers to the “sun gods.”
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54 Ultra
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Bloomfield native John Anthony “Johnny” Rodriguez — otherwise known as 54 Ultra — enjoyed a New Jersey homecoming, delivering the viral hit “Heaven Knows” to a crowd of die-hards and new fans. “This is better than playing Coachella,” he said, adding that he is planning a New Jersey world tour by appearing in every county.
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54 Ultra
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone 54 Ultra enjoyed a home state welcome on the Park Stage, taking the opportunity to reminisce about a show at nearby Rutgers University which was part of the band’s musical journey.
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Anders Osborne
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The New Orleans blues-rock singer presented his confessional songs and sweeping musical tales, including “Louisiana Gold,” to the Sand Stage with a stripped-down set.
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Steph Strings
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Steph Strings, who lives in Melbourne, marvelled at playing oceanside, and shared with the audience that a psychic predicted she would be touring the world as a musician. Said Strings: “Australia needs to learn a thing or two from Asbury Park.”
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Men At Work
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Australian hitmakers played an energetic set on the Surf Stage. Colin Hay and wife Cecilia Noël entertained the crowd with classics like “Overkill,” “Down Under,” “Who Can it Be Now?,” and the raucus encore, “B Good Johnny.” Said Hay motioning towards the ocean: “We come from a land a thousand miles from here, that way.”
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The All-American Rejects
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The All-American Rejects drew a huge crowd of millenials at the Park Stage ready to crowd surf and “Swing, Swing” with the band. Despite sound issues, the band brought energy and humor, later sharing on Instagram: “Jersey still ever the rock and roll crowd she’s always been. Thanks for making the lemonade with us.”
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Fitz and the Tantrums
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone One of the most crowded sets at the Park Stage, Fitz and the Tantrums got hands clapping for anthems like “Out of My League.”
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The All-American Rejects
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone All-American Rejects frontman Tyson Ritter gave his all during the band’s set on the Park Stage, painting a fan’s face, dancing like a ballerina, and tearing through hits “Swing, Swing,” “Move Along,” and “Gives You Hell.” At one point, Ritter said the Sea.Hear.Now audience was the “richest” crowd he ever played for.
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The Offspring
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Offspring played a warm-up set at Asbury Park’s Stone Pony the night before the festival. The SoCal band came out swinging with hits like “Come Out and Play,” followed by a lesson in curse words from guitarist Noodles, who honored the late Ozzy Osborne with Black Sabbath songs. “Every festival is a Black Sabbath Festival,” he said. The band also paid tribute to “punk rocker” Dolly Parton with a cover of “Jolene.”
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Tom Odell
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The U.K. singer-songwriter paid homage to the Jersey Shore on the Sand Stage with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” breaking his piano in the process.
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Shaggy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Shaggy was perfectly paired for the Sand Stage, delighting the crowd with pop-reggae hits like “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me.”
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Mumford and Sons
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone “It’s great to be back in America … This place is totally uncomplicated,” said Marcus Mumford from the stage on Saturday night. Mumford and Sons closed out day one of the festival with a breaktaking version of “Rubberband Man,” and a callback to the band’s history with New Jersey, as keyboardist Ben Levett wistfully recalled playing a show in Seaside Heights 11 years ago.
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David Bryan, Danny Clinch and Johnny Rzeznik
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Local heroes David Bryan of Bon Jovi, Johnny Rzenik of the Goo Goo Dolls, and festival founder Danny Clinch came together for a freespirited Tom Petty cover at the annual after-party. Other special guests included Anthony Almonte of the E Street Band and Blaise.
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The War on Drugs
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The War on Drug’s show opener, “An Ocean in Between the Waves,” set the scene for a gorgeous set featuring intricate and melodic guitar solos led by Adam Granduciel.
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Blaise
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Blaise joined Tangiers Blues Band at the Saturday night after-party for a cover of Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.” The artist also kicked off Sunday afternoon’s festivities on the Sand Stage.
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Blaise
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Blaise brought theatrical style to the Sand Stage with a blend of pop, R&B, dance, and experimental art.
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The Ocean Ave Stompers
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Local brass band Ocean Ave Stompers, led by Ian Gray on trombone, were spotted all over Asbury Park this weekend. Several members backed Jarod Clemons on Saturday, before staging a daily parade, and performing their own set backing the Tangiers Blues Band at the after-party, to cite just a few of their appearances.
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King Stingray
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Adding to the diverse lineup of Sea.Hea.Now., King Stingray opened their set with the song, “Milkumua.”
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King Stingray
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Australian band busted out indigenous Australian instruments like the Yiḏaki (Didgeridoo), bringing their signature sound to the Surf Stage.
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Alice Phoebe Lou
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The South African musician captivated on the Park Stage with songs “Over the Moon” and show closer, “Witches.”
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Makua
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Hawaiian surfer Makua Rothman took a break from catching waves to hit the Sand Stage for an early afternoon show. He later showed up in the Transparent Clinch Pop Up Art tent for a more intimate performance.
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Ben Howard
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The ambidextrous English singer-songwriter brought his epic tales to the Surf stage with a mesmerizing set that ended with a message on the giant video screen, “Stop the Genocide.”
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Chaka Khan
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Queen of R&B and funk celebrated her new album, Chakzilla, with a set that incuded hits “Tell Me Something Good,” “Through the Fire,” “I’m Every Woman,” and “I Feel for You.” Gutiarist Jon Dretto, handpicked by Chaka Khan for her touring band, added extra flavor as the perfect on-stage foil for the enorce “Ain’t Nobody.” Said Khan: “What a view with the waves crashing in, it’s dramatic.”
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Flipturn
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The indie rock band from Fernandina Beach, Florida brought the fun with a set that included the festival-appropriate song, “Whales.”
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Flipturn
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The Florida rockers fit in nicely in Asbury Park, having played The Wonder Bar and the Stone Pony Summer Stage in prior years. Their song, “August,” worked well even on a cloudy September afternoon.
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Die Spitz
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The all-girl metal band from Austin inspired a mosh pit on the beach and actually ran out of material 20 minutes early, but kept going — even jumping in themselves — to the Sand Stage crowd’s delight.
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Goo Goo Dolls
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Goo Goo Dolls singer Johnny Rzeznik embraced his adopted home state of New Jersey on the Surf Stage with a shout out to his Garden State Parkway exit: 137. The set included “Slide” and “Broadway,” and brought some fans to tears with Rzeznik’s a cappella rendition of “Iris,” before the full band kicked in. Strokes singer Julian Casablancas later praised the band, saying he couldn’t believe he was sharing the stage with the equivalent of “The Ramones” back in the day.
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Fontaines D.C.
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. represented Ireland loud on the Surf Stage and proud right down to Grian Chatten’s microphone, shamrock tattoo and green in-ear monitor. The band’s no frills set included new gems like the cinematic “Marianne,” “Bug,” and epic closer “Starburster.”
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Fontaines D.C.
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone After a blistering set on the Surf Stage, which included “Six Shot Morning” played for the second time in the U.S., and “In the Modern World,” a fan was overheard saying, “I’m going to need a minute,” to process.
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Kim Gordon
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Sonic Youth fans gathered in solidarity for a blistering, 17-song set of punk rock dissonance by Kim Gordon, who brought her “Play Me” tour to the Sand Stage.
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Moby
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The elder statesman of dance music understood the assignment: delivering moving melodies and a message to fight for animal rights, as his stickered guitar demonstrated.
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Ziggy Marley
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Paying homage to his father Bob Marley with the timeless, “One Love,” Ziggy kept the positive vibes going with his new song, “Why Let the World.” “Sometimes you just have to [let the] world not trouble you and this is one of those times now,” he said from the stage.
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Moby
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Moby’s set drew a multi-generational crowd of fans ready to dance to “South Side” and “Porcelain,” and were treated to a video from the late Jane Goodall thanking him for being an advocate for animal rights. At one point, Moby playfully sampled Eminem’s “nobody listens to techno,” and shouted out now-defunct local New Wave club Aldo’s.
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The Strokes
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Surf Stage headliners The Strokes packed the beach and narrowly averted the forecasted rain that threatened the festival all day. Frontman Julian Casablancas was chatty between songs, taking a request for the encore and delivering hits “Bad Decisions,” “Last Night,” and the TikTok favorite “The Adults are Talking” to the crowd, who stayed even as rain drops finally began to fall.