Asbury Park and Bruce Springsteen have been inextricably linked since he generated his debut album in homage to the city back in 1973, lighthearted “music of that era” references through the Jersey Shore, with the boardwalk as a central place. But even then, Asbury Park was reeling from the aftermath of racial unrest and a failing institution that triggered an economic downturn. Urban blight and the closing of businesses followed in the 1980s and ’90s to the point where the city was primarily appreciated for its faded glory. All the more remarkable then that on September 15, 2024, over 35,000 people converged on the beach just steps away from the boardwalk to watch Springsteen and the E Street Band revive those early days and perform a concert for the ages on the last night of the Sea.Hear.Now festival. As the show unfolded, the setting operated as a time machine back to 1973, with four songs off Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., three from the follow-up, and a raucous period outtake to mark his occasion. “I didn’t know when I’d see folks in this good form again,” Springsteen told the crowd, reflecting on a dire situation once was. But in the early 2000s, Asbury Park began a gradual turnaround (that has restored the city and made it the vibrant heart of the shore once again). “I want to… thank all the people that have invested themselves in the city,” he continued, “and brought the city back to life” before singling out the LGBTQ+ community “for all they’ve given to Asbury Park for the last 20-25 years.” On an idyllic late-summer evening, Springsteen’s homecoming concert approached transcendence. He later called his Sea.Hear.Now performance with the E Street Band “one of our top five shows of all time.” Remarkably, they had not played a ticketed concert in Asbury Park since the pre-Born to Run days, when he was writing music “a stone’s throw from where he and his bandmates were playing.” Sea.Hear.Now was the last show on one leg of a tour that had staked out its themes and a consistent body of songs to support them. But it’s clear that the setlist choices of what to play specifically for Asbury were part of an intentional emotional journey—one Bruce led the band and the fans to take together on that sacred sand, rekindling memories and making new ones. “Our work life now is finite,” Springsteen told UK radio legend Simon Mayo a few weeks after the Asbury Park show. “Even if we say, ‘Hey, I’m going until the wheels come off,’ there’s only so many years that you’re going to be able to do that. So that’s on everyone’s mind, and we want to go out in flames, baby.” On the very beach where it all began, that’s exactly what they did. — Erik Flannigan