Sea Hear Now Inaugural Event Draws Over 25K Per Day

Asbury Park

Sea Hear Now Inaugural Event Draws Over 25K Per Day

Moor: I just see this event getting better & better, and bigger & bigger

By Michelle Gladden

From a surprise performance from Bruce Springsteen with Southern California’s Social Distortion to an intimate meet and greet with Jack Johnson at Danny Clinch Transparent gallery and Blondie’s power packed performance, the inaugural Sea.Hear.Now festival brought Asbury Park to capacity, in more ways than one.

“I’ve got to share this with my dad,” one concert goer [shown below at right] said as she captured Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals’ Saturday night performance on her cell phone.

Incubus, The Front Bottoms, Brandi Carlile, Lettuce, Deal Casino, Emily Grove, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Clinch’s own Tangiers Blues Band were among the 25 performers who headlined on the three stages.

“Obviously Asbury Park has a strong legacy of music and we are hoping to honor the tradition and keep moving it forward,” Clinch said Saturday before taking time to speak to a few fans and media outlets.

The Toms River native and city resident Tim Donnelly were the brains behind the two-day music, art and surf culture festival with a sustainable conscious platform to the 1.4 square mile community.

City Manager Michael Capabianco, who was at the festival on Saturday, said Monday that he received no complaints about the event.

“The promoter and everyone involved did a phenomenal job handling everything,” Capabianco said.

Asbury Park Deputy Chief David Kelso, also in attendance, estimated Monday a daily 25,000 turn out. He said mutual aid was provided by the Neptune Township Police Department, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the State Police, NJ Transit, the Fire Department members and EMS, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office EMS task force and and the State’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Division of Criminal Justice.

“This is another incredible step in Asbury’s journey,” said Madison Marquette’s Gary Mottola, the visionary behind the Asbury Park Boardwalk revitalization.

“It’s amazing to me what this community has done working collectively,” Mottola said. “The way this community has come together, with all of these diverse groups, and taken the city back and made it extraordinary; this is a lesson a for the rest of the country and the Sea.Hear.Now festival is a great example of it.”

Attendees of all ages turned out for everything from the morning yoga classes to the late night jams. By 10:15 a.m. Saturday, the queue stretched as far as the eye could see down Ocean Avenue. Many parked their blankets before the sand, surf and park stages.

Ken Roth, a lifelong member of the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce who regularly greets visitors at the local train station, said numbers were up by 20 to 25 percent.

“The 1:45 pm train had 300 arrivals,” he said. “That is a record.”

Every detail from trash collection and gluten free offerings to a bike parking lot administered by Asbury Park Complete Streets and ADA accommodations were part of the behind scenes offerings.

The artist showcase kicked off Friday night with Wooden Walls guru Jenn Hampton presenting an array of works by local and national artists inside the Casino building.

The Saturday and Sunday art lineup inside Clinch’s blue and white pop gallery in the midst of the Bradley Park included works from Clinch, Pork Chop, Jack Johnson, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Chris Stein of Blondie, Ian O’Neill of Deer Tick, G. Love, Nicole Atkins, Clint Maedgen and Ben Jaffee of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Carl Broemel, and Tom May of The Menzingers.

“I am really excited for this gallery,” Clinch said prior to the event. “Over the years of spending time with musicians, I noticed that quite a few of them were also painters or illustrators. It occurred to me how special it would be to create a gallery at the festival that could showcase this part of their creative process and be able to give fans a chance to hear their favorite musicians talk about their art.”

Jack Johnson also joined pro surfers from across the eastern seaboard at the Stages For Expression sessions. The participants included Sam Hammer, Mike Gleason, Rob Kelly, Andrew Gesler, Pat Schmidt, Clay Pollioni, Tom Ihnken, and Ricky Carroll. And, the Surfboard Shaping Showcase featured local and east coast talents demonstrating the artform.

Mayor John Moor, who attended the festival with wife Vera, said the event was a ‘complete success.’

“For Blondie and Debbie Harry at 73 to put on a show like that was just amazing to me,” Moor said. “There were very few problems, which I think has to do with the promoters Tim Donnelly, Danny Clinch, Tim Sweetwood from C3, and H. W. Hollman.”

The City charged a flat fee of $75,000, plus $2 per ticket and administrative costs to cover security, parking, EMT services, and clean up.

“They put together an extremely well organized event,” Moor said. “People on the boardwalk and in North Beach, everyone thought it was wonderful. There were very few parking complaints and I attribute that to planning. When you deal with professionals, planning is the key.

Moor, an area native who has lived and worked in Asbury Park for decades said, the festival was one of the best he’s seen.

“As far as I’m concerned this is the best beach concert held in Asbury Park except for WNEW FM in the late ’80s when we had 100,000 on the beach,” he said. “We walked the venue and saw all the exhibits.”