Bruce Springsteen show at Sea Hear Now in Asbury Park will have extra speakers, screens

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the Asbury Park beach is one momentous event — and Sea Hear Now festival organizers have made sure it will be loud and clear.

There will be four additional delay towers with speakers to carry the sound of the music unimpeded on the beach, and two new video towers on the beach to bring fans closer to the visuals, said Tim Sweetwood of C3 Presents, a producer of Sea Hear Now.

“We listened to the crowd and we spent a lot more money on speaker delay towers as well as video delay towers, so when someone is back they can see more of what’s on stage,” Sweetwood said.

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Last year, the sound dropped out for fans on the mid-beach during part of the Beach Boys and Weezer sets.

“We're always fighting the weather elements, which are not under our control, [and] some of that which happened at the tail end of the Beach Boys and Weezer,” Sweetwood said. “ ... One of the biggest factors was the wind ... actually headed north at that time, so our speakers [were] actually fighting that.”

The Beach Boys and Weezer played on the fest's main stage, the Surf Stage, which faces south on the beach. It's the same stage Springsteen and the E Street Band will be on.

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“We're putting in more speakers and more delays to hopefully combat any weather elements that would fight that,” Sweeetwood said.

Concert speaker delays pause the sound for a spit second to make it seem the sound is coming from the stage and not the speaker you are closest to.

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Another change is the area in front of the Surf Stage will be a designated a “No Blanket or Towel Zone.”

“The people up front are used to it being shoulder to shoulder,” Sweetwood said. “Those towels and blankets and stuff like that that, they kind of impede that it and it gives someone a sense that they can run up there put their towel down and then that’s their space and that’s just not the inherent nature of a festival. There’s no right to hold that.”

The Sea Hear Now music, art and surfing festival was founded in 2018 by locals Danny Clinch, who has shot several Springsteen album covers, and Tim Donnelly with Sweetwood. Incubus and Jack Johnson were the headliners of the inaugural fest, and Springsteen guested with Social Distortion.

Since then, Pearl Jam, Stevie Nicks and the Foo Fighters have topped the bill, and discussions have been ongoing with Springsteen.

“It was a mutual conversation,” Sweetwood said. “We would always welcome him if he wanted to play our festival and the timing was right this year. He wanted to play and we wanted him to play the festival.”

“Hurt Somebody” singer-songwriter Noah Kahan headlines Saturday, Sept. 14. The Gaslight Anthem, the Trey Anastasio Band, the Black Crowes, Norah Jones, 311, the Revivalists, Kool & The Gang, the Hives and more will play over the two days on the fest’s three stages on the North Beach and in Bradley Park.

E Street Band fans might want to pay extra attention to the Transparent Clinch Gallery pop-up in Bradley Park at the fest.

“You may see a performance or two,” Sweetwood said.

The beginnings of the of the E Street Band took place at the Upstage Club on the city's Cookman Avenue. Springsteen named his first album “Greetings from Asbruy Park, N.J.” in 1973.

“We're very blessed and very lucky to be able to present him and the E Street Band,” Sweetwood said. “Honestly, something that hasn't been done before is them playing on the beach in their hometown and as time may present, it may never happen again.”

Go: Sea Hear Now, Saturday, Sept. 14, and Sunday, Sept. 15, North Beach and Bradley Park, Asbury Park, sold out; seahearnowfestival.com.

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen at Sea Hear Now to have extra speakers, screeens