The Sea.Hear.Now Festival (aka Sea Hear Now or SHN) is an annual music, art and ocean sustainability festival featuring a professional surfing competition held in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[2] Held on the beach and boardwalk in September, it is produced by, among others, rock photographer Danny Clinch, Tim Donnelly, HM Wollman, and C3 Presents’ Tim Sweetwood.[3]
Digital pop culture magazine The Pop Break named Sea.Hear.Now the best new music festival of the year in 2018.[4][5] Billed as a celebration of live music, art, and surf culture, a portion of proceeds go to ocean-focused and environmental charities such as the Surfrider Foundation and Save the Bay.[3]
After the festival's operating hours, SHN is also known for late night local shows at a variety of live music venues in Asbury Park such as The Stone Pony, House of Independents, The Saint, Asbury Lanes, and Wonder Bar.
2023
The 2023 festival was held on September 16-17, 2023.[6] The 5th annual festival included the following:
The inaugural festival was held in September 2018.[7]
Debbie Harry wore a cape during her performance with Blondie with the message, “Stop Fucking the Planet.”[8] The sustainability efforts at the 2018 festival featured reusable water bottle refilling stations, a “rock and recycle” program to help clean up waste/trash, and an opportunity to join the New Jersey chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.[9]
Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, and others exhibited artwork inside the Transparent Gallery pop-up at the festival. Musicians and artists showing their artwork also included Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers, Billy Morrison of Billy Idol, Trevor Terndrup of Moon Taxi, Tim Showalter of Stand Up Oaks, Liz Cooper, Briston Maroney, Hirie, James Black and James Herdman of Jackson Pines, Danny Clinch, muralist Porkchop and others.
2022
The 2022 festival was held September 17-18, 2022.[15] Among the more notable artists were the following:
The 2022 festival featured pro surfers including, among others, Cory Lopez, Sam Hammer, Cassidy McClain, and Eric Geiselman. The surfers competed in the "North Beach Rumble," a team surf contest.[17]
Late Night Shows
The 2022 Festival included four "Late Night Shows" that took place after the festival's normal operating hours. Shows took place at Asbury Park local venues, such as The Stone Pony and The Wonder Bar, featuring The Backseat Lovers, Gods, Yawn, The Ocean Ave Stomp, and The Surfajettes.
^This 1920 painting depicts a summer crowd at the south end of Asbury Park, including a sign for a July 4, 1920, Asbury Park performance by the Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso. The artist is under a green parasol, several of her friends are also recognizable. Artist Marcel Duchamp (pink suit) walks with the actress Fania Marinoff. Carl Van Vechten stands on the elevated structure left (black suit), Avery Hopwood (white suit, right side) talks with a woman in a yellow dress, the Swiss painter Paul Thévanaz (red bathing suit) bends over a camera. Henry, McBride, Florine Stettheimer, The Museum of Modern Art 1946.
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