THE OFFICIAL STONE PONY CALENDAR

John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
plus Illegally Blind
Joe Rapolla & Zack Sandler

Door 6:30, Show 7:00 to 11:00
JCBBB showtime is 8:30.

John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band are rocking on strong in their 51st year. Hailing from Rhode Island, the band quickly adopted New Jersey as their second home while becoming one of the hottest east coast circuit bands by the late ’70s. JCBBB frequented top Jersey Shore venues including The Fastlane, Big Mans West, The Stone Pony and Tony Mart’s. They burst on to the national scene in the 1980s, with the “Eddie and the Cruisers” soundtrack (filmed at Tony Mart’s and Somers Point locations.) The hit single “On the Dark Side” held the No. 1 position on the Billboard rock charts and the MTV video charts for five consecutive weeks. The album sold more than 3 million copies and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The fictional band Eddie and the Cruisers that they portrayed in the film was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 25 greatest movie rock bands.

John Cafferty and the BBB is still revered by fans and critics alike as one of the “top live rock shows” today. Their shows are a good time rock ‘n’ roll marathon loaded with the Cafferty hits, fan favorites, and plenty of R&B classics!

Tickets: $36 in advance plus applicable surcharges, $40 at the door

NJ Celebrates Hip Hop’s 50th Celebration with Eric B & Rakim

Tickets: $99 (plus applicable surcharges)

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, with celebrations planned around the world to honor not just the music genre but the pioneers who paved the way.

Celebrate 50 Years of Hip Hop with a history-making moment when hip-hop legends Eric B & Rakim, hit the stage Tuesday, June 13th at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

The golden age hip hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim, first exploded onto the scene with the release of the iconic “Eric B. is President” in 1986. Their classic album Paid in Full, which sampled funk and soul-driven tracks, was monumental within the hip hop scene and was named the most excellent hip-hop album of all time by MTV. To this day, Eric B & Rakim remain one of the most iconic duos of hip-hop and are considered pioneers in the culture revered by today’s emcees for furthering hip-hop’s expansion with their unmatched definitive sound.

Eric B is a hugely influential DJ and beatmaker whose taste for hard-hitting James Brown samples touched off a stampede through the Godfather of Soul’s back catalog that continues up to this present day. More than four decades later, he continues to blaze trails in music, business and on the big and small screens. Rakim, meanwhile, still tops fan polls as the greatest MC of all time. He crafted his rhymes like poetry, filling his lines with elaborate metaphors and complex internal rhymes. He played with the beat like a jazzman, earning a reputation as the smoothest-flowing MC ever to pick up a mic.

Performing at the Stone Pony is definitely a dream come true. I have been TRULY BLESSED during my career to have played at almost every premiere arena and venue around the world. So, to be able to play at the Stone Pony, which has been the home to countless iconic acts…especially as we celebrate 50 years of hip hop, is unprecedented”, says Eric B.

Stick Figure: Wisdom Tour
with Pepper, The Elovaters, Sensamotion
on The Stone Pony Summer Stage

Gates open at 5 pm
The Elovaters at 6:30
Pepper at 7
Stick Figure at 8:15

With a distinctive sound developed through tireless attention to musicality and artistry, Stick Figure has redefined American reggae music with his latest album, Wisdom, released in September. As with his previous releases, Wisdom was written, produced and recorded by Scott Woodruff, a self-taught musician, at Stick Figure-owned Great Stone Studios in Oakland, California, former home of Green Day.

Wisdom is Stick Figure’s seventh album and follows the unprecedented success of 2019’s World on Fire, which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard Top 200, No. 6 overall Top Album, No. 1 Independent, and No. 1 Reggae album. World on Fire has sold more than 300,000 copies including streaming equivalents, according to Nielsen Soundscan data. Stick Figure’s catalog has now sold well over 1 million copies and been streamed over 3 billion times. On the live side, Stick Figure averaged more 4,200 tickets sold per show on an almost entirely sold out 2022 tour, according to Pollstar, and is slated to play major multi-genre festivals in 2023 after headlining the top reggae festivals in 2022.

These numbers would be impressive by any metric, yet Stick Figure has achieved this rarified air completely independently, with no label or outside producers. Throughout the credits of Wisdom, Woodruff and a small cadre of collaborators, namely childhood friend TJ O’Neill, prove that manufactured music does not have to exclusively dominate the charts. Streaming alongside today’s biggest pop stars, Stick Figure has transcended the genre while always embracing his love of reggae music. Much like other bands supported Stick Figure during his ascent, Woodruff works with up and coming artists to help foster a vibrancy that keeps the scene strong and growing faster than ever before, exposing it to new listeners with an authenticity that stays true to his roots, while pushing the boundaries of sound that people expect from the genre.

The evolution of the artist most often portrayed as a one-man band has its genesis in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Well before achieving worldwide acclaim or embracing the demand to play live shows, Scott was an avid music fan who in high school traded bootleg CDs of his favorite artists’ unreleased demos. It was then that he began recording a series of albums under the moniker of Stick Figure.

From his debut, The Sound of My Addiction, Scott’s handcrafted music connected with a community of avid listeners who discovered him exclusively by word of mouth and social media. Selling tens of thousands of copies of each of his self-produced releases allowed him to travel the world in pursuit of experience. Scott moved to San Diego where his recording career continued to blossom. As recently as 2012, he was putting up his own posters for Burial Ground at the California Roots Festival. In 2019, Stick Figure was commanding center stage as the headliner for the massive event. Today, Stick Figure is still embracing the DIY work ethic, while selling out amphitheaters and having his music played more than any other living reggae artist in the world.

Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute

Formed in 2014, Rumours (also known as Rumours ATL) has taken the U.S. by storm with their stage scorching renditions of Fleetwood Mac songs. Fans from across the nation claim that Rumours is the band to see if you are looking for an authentic recreation of live Fleetwood Mac shows.

In just under 7 years, Rumours has landed themselves the reputation of being the best Fleetwood Mac Tribute band and additionally has made fans internationally. In the summer of 2019, Rumours was invited to play a week in The Netherlands at some of the top venues and festivals in the country. The success of that tour brought them attention from plenty of new fans and promoters and they will be
returning in 2020. Specially crafted shows and not one detail left behind, Rumours continues to sell out some of the top venues in the United States and gain fans at each show.

Rumours is fronted by Mekenzie Zimmerman (Stevie Nicks vocals), Adrienne Cottrell (keyboards and Christine McVie vocals), and Denny Hanson (guitar and Lindsey Buckingham vocals). John Spiegel on lead guitar, Jim Ramsdell on bass, and Daniel Morrison on drums makeup one of the best live band performances you will see at any show. The band prides themselves on being the most authentic Fleetwood Mac tribute without coming across as a parody or a bore of a show. They will make you dance, sing along at the top of your lungs, and you’ll even learn something new about Fleetwood Mac at each performance.

Tickets: $25 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $28 at the door

AN EVENING WITH GOOSE
on The Stone Pony Summer Stage

Goose — Rick Mitarotonda [vocals, guitar], Peter Anspach [vocals, keys, guitar], Trevor Weekz [bass], Ben Atkind [drums], and Jeff Arevalo [vocals, percussion, drums] — fluidly traverse genres with head-spinning hooks, technical fireworks, and the kind of chemistry only possible among small town and longtime friends. Following 2016’s moon cabin, the Norwalk, CT quintet quietly took flight, playing countless shows during their ascent while slowly and steadily amassing a nationwide following.

The end of 2017 saw the band welcome Peter Anspach on guitar and keyboard – a pivotal moment that solidified the group’s core lineup. Months of relentless touring prepared them for a string of milestone festival performances during the summer of 2019, most notably defined by a storied performance at The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA. The band’s subsequent pro-shot video gained significant traction, highlighting the existing catalog of content compiled over the previous two years.

With increased buzz came increased demand. One by one, Goose sold out each show of their fall 2019 headlining tour and sold out last minute performances at both Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg in January 2020.

Due in part to Goose’s penchant for improvisation, the band has successfully navigated the myriad challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. They produced a series of intimate virtual events, culminating in a universally acclaimed Bingo Tour. The interactive, two-week live streaming event featured four full concerts with setlists determined by the outcome of a live Bingo game.

Fall 2020 saw a welcome return to live performance with a slew of sold out drive-in shows throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and Mid Atlantic. Propelled by seemingly unstoppable momentum, the band concluded the year with their sixth annual Goosemas holiday concert, an epic live stream from a rooftop at Rockefeller Center.

Shenanigans Nite Club, released in June 2021, encapsulates the band’s rise. The nine track project is an ode to oft-forgotten vestiges of Goose’s experience, both personal and collective. Bestowing deserved éclat on the emergent musicians, the album debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top New Artist Albums chart.

AN EVENING WITH GOOSE
on The Stone Pony Summer Stage

Goose — Rick Mitarotonda [vocals, guitar], Peter Anspach [vocals, keys, guitar], Trevor Weekz [bass], Ben Atkind [drums], and Jeff Arevalo [vocals, percussion, drums] — fluidly traverse genres with head-spinning hooks, technical fireworks, and the kind of chemistry only possible among small town and longtime friends. Following 2016’s moon cabin, the Norwalk, CT quintet quietly took flight, playing countless shows during their ascent while slowly and steadily amassing a nationwide following.

The end of 2017 saw the band welcome Peter Anspach on guitar and keyboard – a pivotal moment that solidified the group’s core lineup. Months of relentless touring prepared them for a string of milestone festival performances during the summer of 2019, most notably defined by a storied performance at The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA. The band’s subsequent pro-shot video gained significant traction, highlighting the existing catalog of content compiled over the previous two years.

With increased buzz came increased demand. One by one, Goose sold out each show of their fall 2019 headlining tour and sold out last minute performances at both Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg in January 2020.

Due in part to Goose’s penchant for improvisation, the band has successfully navigated the myriad challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. They produced a series of intimate virtual events, culminating in a universally acclaimed Bingo Tour. The interactive, two-week live streaming event featured four full concerts with setlists determined by the outcome of a live Bingo game.

Fall 2020 saw a welcome return to live performance with a slew of sold out drive-in shows throughout the Northeast, Midwest, and Mid Atlantic. Propelled by seemingly unstoppable momentum, the band concluded the year with their sixth annual Goosemas holiday concert, an epic live stream from a rooftop at Rockefeller Center.

Shenanigans Nite Club, released in June 2021, encapsulates the band’s rise. The nine track project is an ode to oft-forgotten vestiges of Goose’s experience, both personal and collective. Bestowing deserved éclat on the emergent musicians, the album debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top New Artist Albums chart.

The Head and the Heart + The Revivalists
Jamie Wyatt

One dollar per ticket goes to Rev Causes, a fund that supports the work of organizations dedicated to reviving and investing in communities, health, and the environment. One dollar per ticket goes to The Rivers and Roads Foundation, which was started by The Head and the Heart as a way to give back to their hometown of Seattle. The goal of the foundation is to raise money for Seattle-based music programs and initiatives.

RIPE
with Coyote Island

Ripe’s new album Bright Blues has an anthemic feel. It is a collection of 12 songs full of sleek grooves and bold melodies that the Alternative-Pop quartet put together to help ride out tough times.

The members of Ripe have never felt more assured about the band or their music. Collectively and personally, Ripe has weathered a mountain of adversity over the past few years, and from those struggles has arisen their best art yet. Bright Blues, Ripe’s sophomore album, is enjoying big excitement at radio, with the new single “Settling” hitting top 15 at AAA and top 25 at ALT with over 16K+ radio spins garnering 15+million impressions and being featured as Alt Nation’s critical cut artist.

“The wildest thing for me is that the record simultaneously sounds like it has the scars of everything we’ve been through and also that it doesn’t — it’s joyful music, which is very exciting given that it was made in the middle of getting hit in the stomach,” says singer Robbie Wulfsohn, who came together with guitarist Jon Becker, drummer Sampson Hellerman, and trombonist Calvin Barthel while they were all studying at Berklee College of Music.

Ripe is taking Bright Blues on the road, with a nationwide headline tour that begins shortly after the album’s March 10th, 2023 release date. The tour will hit prestigious venues such as MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, Terminal 5 in New York City and The Fillmore in San Francisco.

Even before the pandemic, Ripe was on the cusp of something new. The band began drawing acclaim from the likes of the Boston Globe, Huffington Post and WXPN with a dance-ready vibe on EPs Produce The Juice and Hey Hello. Ripe built on that sound and folded in a touch of R&B on their first full-length, Joy in the Wild Unknown. Their streams on Spotify surged past 65 million, they conquered stages at festivals including Bonnaroo, Firefly, SweetWater and Bottlerock, and they sold thousands of tickets across the US, including sell outs at iconic venues like House of Blues Boston and Brooklyn Steel. Ripe was still ready to try a different approach for Bright Blues. The album would already be different in that it would be their first release after signing to indie powerhouse Glassnote Records. They started the creative process by calling in outside producer Paul Butler (St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Michael Kiwanuka) and for the first time, bringing in co-writers, recording four songs that Ripe released as singles throughout 2020.

“We thought, how can we do something new?” Hellerman says. “Something that still has our sound and vibe at its core, how can we expand our boundaries and reach more audiences while still staying true to what makes Ripe Ripe?” The answer was teaming up with Noah Conrad (BTS, Niall Horan) and Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy), classmates from Berklee who are up-and-comers in the world of pop songwriting and production. Together, the band and its collaborators dialed in a buoyant sound on the hooky album opener “Get Over,” where synths help flesh out a throwback pop sound. Ripe works a hot soul vein on “All or Nothing,” where horns punctuate a snappy rhythm that powers smooth, fully self-assured vocals. Woozy synths on “Paper Cups” help create a dream-like vibe accentuated with a subtle, hypnotic melody.

Bringing new people into the fold, even though they’re old friends, was an exercise in trust that proved well worth it. “We used to just all get in a room and kind of hash it out,” Becker says. With Bright Blues, “It was only one or two of us at a time with Noah and Ryan, so our individual voices got to shine more.”

The new approach also helped Ripe think of the band’s high-energy, freewheeling stage show separately from the recording studio, which they used more as an instrument in the making of Bright Blues. Wulfsohn chimes in, “There are moments of improvisation on the record that feel like somebody was just going for it and hitting something really exciting. I’m biased, but I think you hear every distinct voice across the record, and I think the circumstances of the record absolutely leaked into the musical choices.”

The result is an album that shows the full scope of the band’s abilities as writers and performers. The live show has always been at the core of who Ripe is, and now the recorded music can stand alongside it as an all-encompassing representation of who the band is and where they are going.

Bright Blues also showed the members of Ripe that they can still surprise each other. “Each of us had moments while making this album that really resonated with us, if not broke us open emotionally,” Barthel says. “Having that experience coming from people who you know better than anybody else and trust so much is pretty mind blowing. It definitely left us all with a new level of inspiration and drive and belief in what we could all do.”

Tickets: $25 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $30 at the door

Morgan Wade

with Nate Fredrick and The Wholesome Boys

Morgan Wade didn’t write to be a sensation, for critical acclaim or massive concert tours. She wrote to speak her truth, to save her own life – and perhaps throw a rope to others struggling with the weight of a world moving too fast, loves where you fall too hard and nights that, good or bad, seem to go on forever.

2021 saw Reckless, her Thirty Tigers/now Sony Music Nashville debut, and lead single “Wilder Days” topping critical lists from Rolling Stone, TIME, Stereogum, New York Times, Boston Globe, FADER, Tennessean, Whiskey Riff, Billboard, and The Boot and Taste of Country who both proclaimed, “a once-in-a-decade debut.” With a voice that is raw hurt, deep knowing and somehow innocence retained, Wade wrote or co-wrote a song cycle about the reality facing teens and 20-somethings that embraced raw desire, the reality of getting high and getting sober, the realm of crawling through the wreckage with a tough vulnerability that is as singular as the young woman from Floyd, Virginia.

Tickets: $30 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $35 at the door

An Evening with Umphrey’s McGee
25th Anniversary Tour

In the 25 years since eclectic improv-rock band Umphrey’s McGee formed, their sound has been an amalgamation of genres, moods, and tempos, effortlessly flowing from one feeling to the next throughout an album or concert—or sometimes within a singular song. But with time and repetition comes wisdom and maturity, both personally and musically, and in the case of the band’s new album Asking For A Friend, Umphrey’s McGee entered the recording studio with something to say and a wise, measured way to say it.

The end result is an astoundingly cohesive fourteen-song album that feels like a fresh statement from a group of world-class musicians and friends reapproaching their craft with a new lens. But long-time fans will be happy to know that the Umphrey’s McGee they know and love is still very much present on Asking For A Friend, just more refined. More focused.

Tickets: $42.50 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $45 at the door

Almost Queen – A Tribute to Queen 
plus Lez Zeppelin

Tickets: $35 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $39 at the gate

It’s been described as the most authentic Queen live show since the days of Queen themselves. Almost Queen delivers a live performance showcasing signature four-part harmonies and intricate musical interludes. Donning genuine costumes, Almost Queen recaptures the live energy and precision that is the ultimate Queen experience.

“I had heard a lot of great things about these guys, but the show was even better than I imagined.” – Randy Jackson

“Without a doubt, Almost Queen are probably the finest testimonial to Queen I have ever had the pleasure in seeing. If Freddie were alive today he’d queue for tickets!” – Eric Cook, Demolition Records

“Almost Queen proved that they are the best Queen tribute act around. Almost Queen captured the essence of Queen’s classic songs both from a sonic and lyric standpoint. Their show was high-energy and fun, and they are worth checking out in a live setting.” – Digital Journal

JP COOPER

JP Cooper has done the legwork. Ten years in bands in and around his hometown of Manchester, England. Multiple songs written on his own and with a variety of collaborators, a couple of which became global hits-that-will-not-die: Perfect Strangers with Jonas Blue and his own September Song, which is now sitting at some 600 million streams. An international solo career built on pure songcraft. And he’s done the business. The singer-songwriter’s 2017 debut album Raised Under Grey Skies has sold in old-fashioned numbers: one million copies at time of writing. His 11 million monthly Spotify listeners have contributed to a grand – very grand – total of four billion total streams.

Tickets: $25 in advance (plus applicable surcharges), $30 at the door