“I’m Riding Down Kingsley”
Sunday, September 15, 2024 Entry #104
Maybe I wasn’t riding down Kingsley Street, but I definitely walked on it today! Kingsley is a roadway parallel to and just a few blocks away from the Atlantic Ocean beach at Asbury Park, New Jersey. Bruce Springsteen name-checked this Jersey Shore main drag in his 1978 song, “Something In The Night,” within the verse which I’ve used as the title of this post.
I was back in Asbury Park (see Entries #61-67 for reports on my first time here, in April 2023) for an extremely exciting reason-to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live in concert on their home turf (Springsteen calls Asbury Park his “adopted” hometown, as he was actually born and raised in Freehold, NJ, some 20 miles away). Springsteen and his band were going to be the headliners extraordinaire at the Sea.Hear.Now Festival which has been held each year since 2018 on Asbury’s famous beach and boardwalk.
It is well known that Springsteen got his musical start in the bars and clubs of Asbury Park, but nowadays Bruce performing in these parts generally means a surprise guest spot or a promotional appearance. Springsteen has performed a few full-fledged concerts on the Jersey Shore since he achieved superstardom, and when it happens, they are homecomings worthy of breaking news coverage.
Asbury Park’s Sea.Hear.Now Festival, the annual music, art and ocean sustainability two-day event which includes a professional surfing competition, was co-founded and is co-produced by rock photographer Danny Clinch. Clinch has produced some iconic images of Springsteen, and from that work he has established a personal relationship with The Boss. Ever since the festival began, Clinch has been working on Springsteen to consider headlining, and a few months back, Springsteen actually agreed.
“I’m gonna do the thing on the beach,” Springsteen told Clinch. “I’m going to Sea.Hear.Now. I want to bring the band on the beach (a beach where he sunned, swam, surfed, and even slept on often as a teen). This could be incredible.”
As soon as I heard about this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I knew I couldn’t miss it if at all possible. Luckily, the dates and logistics worked out. Amy and I spent Saturday in New York City. The next day, Amy stayed in the city to spend time with friends, and I grabbed the 5:55 A.M. New Jersey Coast train to Asbury Park.
After arriving on the scene, I found the one entrance where security was allowing fans to hang out before the official 11 AM festival start time. Everywhere I looked there was something that reminded me of Springsteen. To my right was the Convention Hall, where Springsteen and the E Street Band rehearsed for many of their world tours, and had put on a number of rehearsal concerts that were open to local fans. On the other side of the street was the Wonder Bar, the site of Springsteen’s first performance (unannounced) after the death of his bandmate and dear friend, Clarence Clemons. I figured a Springsteen event this monumental would be too compelling to pass up for many of my tour friends I’ve met the last couple of years, and sure enough I reunited with a bunch of them while waiting for the gates to open.
It was a mind-bending scene for Springsteen fans. We were on the Asbury Park boardwalk, just a few feet away from the little beachfront booth containing “Madam Marie’s Temple of Knowledge,” a palm and Tarot card reading business. This is the stand popularized in Springsteen’s song “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” filled with youthful reflections on the carnival scene that took place at this very spot. Madam Marie’s is an obligatory stop on any tour of Springsteen origin sites, however this time we weren’t here for sightseeing, but to see The Boss on himself.
Among the group was my tour friend Cassie, who I met in Tampa. A few years ago, on her 20th birthday, Cassie got pulled onstage and played guitar with Springsteen (She crushed it-I posted the incredible YouTube video in Entry #9). Cassie and I subsequently ran into one another at Springsteen shows in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. This time, once we were allowed to enter, Cassie used her relative youth to race ahead on the sand to the Surf Stage (where Springsteen would be closing out the night) to hold space for a bunch of us, just a few rows from the stage.
When I imagined being at this festival, I figured I would have to settle with being somewhere in the outer reaches, basically watching the concert on the jumbo screens. I had made my peace with that, just glad I was able to attend at all. However, as it turned out, because I had arrived so early (with a hat tip to Cassie), I was basically back in the pit! Soon enough, we hard-core Springsteen followers would be joined by over 30.000 people crowding the beach, but for now I had lots of room on a beautiful late summer day on the ocean, anticipating a fantastic day of good tunes and vibes. I couldn’t believe my good fortune!
Though there were three stages of quality music, I decided to burrow my bare feet in the sand, keep any wandering to a minimum, and enjoy only the offerings leading up to Springsteen at the Surf Stage. I certainly didn’t want to lose my primo spot! When it comes to Bruce, I tend to keep my eyes on the prize.
I’m going to close this entry with a “sneak-peek” video snippet I recorded at Springsteen’s Sea.Hear.Now performance that evening (the next post will include reviews and photos of the acts I saw beforehand). It is here because Springsteen calls out Kingsley Street, the very roadway that is the heart of the title for this particular blog entry. In fact, I took the picture of its street sign because, even though the day had barely begun, I had decided already that Kingsley would be a poignant place to begin my eventual reflections on this epochal Springsteen event (I seem to always be thinking about Spirit In The Night these days!). When Springsteen referenced it in his rap during the coming-of-age song “Growin’ Up,” I felt thrilled, delighted, and validated by The Boss himself!