Statewide Honors, National Spotlight and a Full Calendar of Celebrations Mark The Stone Pony’s 50th Anniversary in Asbury Park. The Sound of Asbury Comes Home: A Beloved Local Tradition Takes the Stage Again

Asbury Park Music Awards Make a Long-Awaited Comeback at The Stone Pony, Reviving a Cornerstone of New Jersey’s Live Music Culture

One of New Jersey’s most deeply rooted celebrations of original music is finally returning to where it belongs—on a stage, in front of the community that built it.

After a seven-year absence, the Asbury Park Music Awards will officially return on Friday, February 20, bringing artists, venues, producers, promoters and fans back together inside the legendary Stone Pony for a full evening devoted to the people who continue to define Asbury Park as one of the East Coast’s most influential music cities.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the ceremony and live programming running from 7 p.m. through approximately 11:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

More than an awards show, the revival represents the return of a hometown institution that helped unify a fiercely independent local scene for a generation. For musicians who cut their teeth in small rooms, late-night showcases and local festivals, the Asbury Park Music Awards have long served as one of the rare platforms built specifically to recognize artists before national success—and sometimes long after it.

The ceremony traces its roots back to 1993, when it was created to spotlight original music and the creative ecosystem surrounding it. Over the next quarter century, the awards became an annual anchor for the city’s live performance community, celebrating not only artists, but also the venues and organizers who sustained Asbury Park’s reputation during periods of both growth and uncertainty.

The event was originally founded by Scott Stamper of the iconic club The Saint, along with Peter Mantas, who served as entertainment director at the former Langosta Lounge. From its earliest years through 2018, the awards developed a reputation as a grassroots gathering where recognition came directly from the scene itself—musicians honoring musicians, and fans celebrating the people whose work shaped their weekends, soundtracks and social circles.

When The Saint closed its doors in 2022, the end of that era carried emotional weight throughout the local music community. Now, with Stamper’s full support, stewardship of the awards has passed to the Asbury Park Music Foundation, which is producing the revived ceremony and guiding it into its next chapter.

That transition brings a powerful new dimension to the event.

Proceeds from the 2025 Asbury Park Music Awards will directly support the foundation’s mission to provide meaningful music education opportunities to under-resourced youth. The return of the ceremony is now tied not only to celebrating the artists of today, but also to creating access for the musicians of tomorrow—an evolution that reflects the values of a scene built on mentorship, collaboration and community.

The 2025 ceremony will feature 31 award categories, capturing the full scope of the local creative landscape. Core honors will include New Music of the Year, Artist of the Year and Musician of the Year, alongside a wide range of genre-specific Performer of the Year awards designed to reflect the stylistic diversity that has long defined Asbury Park’s stages.

In a meaningful nod to the years when the ceremony was inactive, four special awards will recognize standout releases created during the “gap years” from 2019 through 2024. Those years reshaped how local artists recorded, released and promoted their work, forcing musicians to adapt to changing technology, new touring realities and evolving audience habits. The additional honors are intended to acknowledge both artistic excellence and the resilience that kept Asbury Park’s creative culture alive during one of the most turbulent periods the industry has ever faced.

The return of the awards to The Stone Pony is especially symbolic.

Few venues in the country hold the cultural gravity of the Pony, which has long stood at the heart of the city’s live music identity. Hosting the revived ceremony inside its walls reinforces the deep connection between the venue and the local artists who continue to rely on it as both a proving ground and a creative home.

For emerging performers sharing the same room with veteran players who helped shape the scene decades earlier, the evening offers a rare moment of cross-generational recognition—one that connects the city’s past, present and future on a single stage.

The revived awards arrive at a moment when Asbury Park’s creative economy is experiencing renewed momentum. New artists are recording locally, independent shows are selling out across town, and collaborations between musicians, visual artists and community organizations continue to broaden the city’s cultural footprint well beyond the boardwalk.

Across the state, similar grassroots movements are helping redefine how local music communities operate and grow. Readers who follow the broader evolution of New Jersey’s live performance and independent recording landscape can explore additional coverage through Explore New Jersey’s music section, which highlights the artists, venues and creative forces shaping the sound of the Garden State.

For Asbury Park, however, the return of its hometown awards carries a uniquely personal meaning.

It restores a shared tradition that once brought the entire scene into one room each year—a place where accomplishments were recognized, new projects were discovered, and friendships were formed between people who might otherwise only pass one another in darkened clubs and crowded hallways.

On February 20, the Asbury Park Music Awards will once again become that gathering point. After seven years away, the ceremony returns not as a nostalgia act, but as a reimagined platform—one that honors legacy, celebrates the city’s present-day creators and invests directly in the next generation of musicians who will carry Asbury Park’s sound forward.

One of the most influential live music rooms in America is officially turning 50—and New Jersey is celebrating in a big way.

The Stone Pony, the storied Asbury Park venue that has helped define the sound and soul of the Jersey Shore for five decades, is marking its golden anniversary with year-long programming, special releases, national media attention and an expanding lineup of events that place the club firmly at the center of New Jersey’s cultural conversation.

Founded in 1975 by Jack Roig and Butch Pielka, The Stone Pony has grown from a neighborhood bar with a stage into an internationally recognized landmark. In honor of that legacy, the State of New Jersey, Monmouth County and the City of Asbury Park have formally proclaimed February 8 as Stone Pony Day, recognizing the venue’s extraordinary impact on the state’s artistic identity and its role in shaping generations of musicians and fans.

For Asbury Park, the proclamation is more than ceremonial. It signals just how deeply the venue is woven into the city’s revival, reputation and creative economy.

Over fifty years, the Pony has become synonymous with discovery, community and musical authenticity. It has hosted countless breakthrough performances, surprise guest appearances and defining hometown moments—many of them now part of American music lore. But what continues to distinguish the venue is its ability to remain rooted in local culture while staying globally relevant.

The anniversary year is being positioned as a living celebration rather than a single milestone event. Throughout 2026, the venue will spotlight its history while continuing to do what it has always done best: serve as a launchpad for artists and a gathering place for music lovers from across the region.

National attention has also returned to Asbury Park’s most famous stage.

A primetime ABC special, “Bruce Springsteen: Backstage and Backstreets,” brings viewers inside Bruce Springsteen’s personal story, career and creative connection to Asbury Park and The Stone Pony. The broadcast offers rare behind-the-scenes access and reflections on how the venue shaped the early chapters of one of the most iconic careers in modern music. The program further reinforces the Pony’s reputation as more than a club—it is a cornerstone of American rock history.

That national spotlight continues with the release of Springsteen’s new documentary, “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” which deepens the narrative around the artist’s touring life and creative evolution, while tying his legacy back to the Jersey Shore scene that helped launch it.

The anniversary also coincides with the release of a major new oral history book, “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” a sweeping, firsthand chronicle of The Stone Pony and the rise, fall and rebirth of Asbury Park itself. The book features interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Southside Johnny, members of the E Street Band and the Asbury Jukes, along with artists spanning multiple generations including the Ramones, the Jonas Brothers and Jack Antonoff. The project captures not only the story of a venue, but the cultural ecosystem that grew around it.

Even the Pony’s anniversary toast carries a distinctly local flavor.

To mark the milestone, the venue has introduced a commemorative beer, Pony Pale, an American-style pale ale brewed specifically for the 50th anniversary. Featuring bright citrus, pine and tropical fruit notes, the collector can release is available at the Pony and select local retailers, offering fans a tangible way to celebrate half a century of live music on the Shore.

While the history is being honored, the calendar remains firmly focused on live performance.

One of the signature winter events tied to the anniversary is the return of Splintered Sunlight for its annual Grateful Date Night Valentine’s show. The longtime Grateful Dead tribute act, which has been performing at The Stone Pony for three decades, takes the stage for a special evening built around two full sets of Dead classics. Doors open at 7 p.m., with music running from 7:30 p.m. through 11:30 p.m., continuing a tradition that has become a staple for both longtime Deadheads and new fans discovering the scene.

But perhaps the most meaningful anniversary-year moment for the local artist community arrives later in February, when one of Asbury Park’s most beloved traditions officially returns to the room where so many careers were born.

After a seven-year hiatus, the Asbury Park Music Awards will be held Friday, February 20, inside The Stone Pony.

Now presented by the Asbury Park Music Foundation, the revived ceremony restores a long-standing platform dedicated entirely to celebrating original artists and the people who sustain the city’s independent music culture. The awards were first established in 1993 and ran annually through 2018, becoming a cornerstone of the local creative community.

The 2025 edition will feature 31 award categories, including New Music of the Year, Artist of the Year, Musician of the Year and multiple genre-based Performer of the Year honors. In recognition of the years when the ceremony was inactive, four special awards will acknowledge standout releases created between 2019 and 2024—years that challenged local artists while also redefining how music was created, shared and supported.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the ceremony and performances running from 7 p.m. until approximately 11:30 p.m. Tickets are priced at $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Proceeds from the awards directly support the Asbury Park Music Foundation’s mission to provide life-changing music education opportunities for under-resourced youth, ensuring that the Pony’s legacy is tied not only to its past, but to the future of the scene it helped build.

Together, these events illustrate why The Stone Pony continues to stand at the center of New Jersey’s creative identity. It remains one of the few venues in the country where global recognition and grassroots culture still intersect nightly.

Readers following the evolution of the state’s live performance landscape and the artists driving it forward can explore broader coverage of New Jersey’s music scene through Explore New Jersey’s music section, which highlights the venues, performers and movements shaping the sound of the Garden State.

As Stone Pony Day now officially anchors February 8 on the New Jersey calendar, the venue enters its second half-century with renewed momentum—celebrating its past while continuing to give the next generation of musicians the same opportunity that defined its first 50 years: a stage, a crowd and the chance to be heard.