Bruce Springsteen joined Gaslight Anthem & Trey Anastasio at Sea.Hear.Now before his headlining set

Bruce Springsteen returned to his old Asbury Park stomping grounds to headline day two of the Sea.Hear.Now festival on the beach last night (9/15), and he made a handful of other appearances during and surrounding the festival as well. He played an afterparty at The Stone Pony on Saturday night (9/14) with day one headliner Noah Kahan and others, and he made two surprise appearances during two other artists’ sets at the fest on Sunday.

He joined his NJ friends The Gaslight Anthem right at the beginning of their set for “History Books,” their collaboration from The Gaslight Anthem’s 2023 comeback album of the same name, and Bruce also hung around to help them out on “American Slang.” Later in The Gaslight Anthem’s set, they brought out Karina Rykman for their cover of Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes” and their own “The ’59 Sound.”

Bruce also joined Phish’s Trey Anastasio during his set for a rendition of Bruce’s own “Kitty’s Back.” It reunited the two 15 years after Phish brought out Bruce at Bonnaroo 2009, and they played an extended, nearly-10-minute version of the song with Bruce on lead vocals, sandwiched between Trey’s mix of solo material and Phish songs.

During Bruce’s own set, his wife and bandmate Patti Scialfa gave her first public performance since revealing her cancer diagnosis when she duetted with Bruce on “Tougher Than The Rest.” Bruce’s set also included multiple songs that he hadn’t performed in years, including songs from his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and other early, locationally-relevant songs like “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” Chris Jordan’s review for Asbury Park Press reads:

“Greetings Asbury Park,” said Springsteen when he took the stage.

“I wrote this a long time ago about 500 yards north of here in Loch Arbour,” said Springsteen of “Blinded by the Light.”

“I wrote this when I was 20 in a surfboard factory in Wanamassa,” said Springsteen of the ultra rare oldie “Thundercrack.”

The pre-1975 material kept coming, including “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” and “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” which was dedicated to late band member Danny Federici. The Boss amplified the famous line about Madam Marie. Her granddaughters are still telling fortunes in the Temple of Knowledge, which is about 500 yards south on the boardwalk from the stage where Springsteen was singing.

The songs had a new life and vitality to them, thanks largely to arrangements that included the band’s horn and choir sections. Instead of a scratchy folk rock sound, they swung pretty good.

Read more at APP. Festival founder Danny Clinch also spoke to Rolling Stone earlier this year about Bruce’s surprise appearance with Social Distortion at the inaugural Sea.Hear.Now in 2018 and how he came to headline this year’s:

I work with Bruce a lot, so we see each other fairly often. We text occasionally and stuff. And so I told him, we have this festival with Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Social Distortion, and it’s gonna be great. This was our first year, 2018. I said, “You should come through,” and he was like, “Yeah, that sounds cool.” And I waited a couple months and reminded him again. Then day one, Ben Harper comes on the stage, and it’s absolutely beautiful. The sun is setting, the moon is rising on the other side, it’s just packed with people. And he plays “Atlantic City.” I’m like, “Oh my god.”

So I get out my phone, I film it, and I texted it to Bruce. He says, “What’s going on? And I was like, “This is Sea.Hear.Now, this is happening on the beach right now.” And he was like, “Oh man, amazing.” Of course I said, “Tomorrow, Social Distortion is playing on the beach in Asbury.” About an hour goes by, and he texts me and says, “Can I get the tour manager’s info for Mike Ness?” The next day, he shows up and sits in with Social Distortion. And it really was a kind gesture, because once he sets foot on that stage, it became an international story for Sea.Hear.Now, and he had such a great time.

How did he end up on this year’s line-up?

So this time around, we were looking for our headliners, and he was going to be on the East Coast, and his tour was going to end on the 13th of September. So we’re like, “Oh man, this looks like a good opportunity to hit him up.” And I happen to be over his place. And I said, “Man, I was looking at your schedule, and we would love to have you at our Sea.Hear.Now show,” and he’s like, “Yeah, that’d be cool.” And I said, “Can I have my guy reach out to your guy?” He just was laughing, and he said yeah. Then later I was back in the studio, and he just turned to me at one point and he was like, “I’m gonna do the thing on the beach. I’m going to Sea.Hear.Now. I want to bring the band on the beach. This could be incredible.”

At his set on Sunday night, Bruce said to the crowd, “The band was here on that little street corner when nobody was here, and I didn’t know when I would see folks in this good town again. I just want to take a moment to thank all the people who have invested themselves to bring Asbury Park back to life. On the East Side, on the West Side — I want to thank the LGBTQ plus community for all they did for Asbury Park in the last 25 years. Danny Clinch, I want to thank you for this wonderful event, and most of all I want to thank all of you for being here tonight. God bless Asbury Park.”

Check out videos, Bruce’s full setlist, and some photos and social media reactions from attendees below…

Bruce Springsteen @ Sea.Hear.Now 2024 Setlist (via)
Lonesome Day
Blinded by the Light (tour debut, first time since 2017)
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? (tour debut, first time since 2017)
Growin’ Up
The Promised Land
Spirit in the Night
Thundercrack (tour debut, first time since 2016)
The E Street Shuffle
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (tour debut; first time since 2016; dedicated in memory of Danny Federici)
Hungry Heart
Local Hero (tour debut)
Atlantic City
Tougher Than the Rest (with Patti Scialfa)
Long Walk Home
Racing in the Street
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
She’s the One
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road

Encore:
Meeting Across the River (tour debut; first time since 2016)
Jungleland (tour debut)
Born to Run
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark (followed by band introductions)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (pictures of Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici on screen)
Twist and Shout (The Top Notes cover)
Jersey Girl (Tom Waits cover) (tour debut)

The Gaslight Anthem @ Sea.Hear.Now 2024 Setlist (via)
History Books (with Bruce Springsteen)
American Slang (with Bruce Springsteen)
Great Expectations
45
Mae
The Patient Ferris Wheel
Miles Davis and the Cool
We Came to Dance
Michigan, 1975
Howl
ocean eyes (Billie Eilish cover) (with Karina Rykman)
The ’59 Sound (with Karina Rykman)
Handwritten
The Backseat

Trey Anastasio Band @ Sea.Hear.Now 2024 Setlist (via)
Mozambique (Trey Anastasio song)
Cayman Review (Trey Anastasio song)
Push On ‘Til the Day (Trey Anastasio song)
Kitty’s Back (Bruce Springsteen cover) (with Bruce Springsteen)
The Moma Dance (Phish cover)
Olivia (Trey Anastasio song)
Sand (Phish cover)
Everything’s Right (Phish cover)
First Tube