The Fray Take Over Asbury Park
I've photographed a lot of shows at the Stone Pony Summer Stage this summer. I've seen sold-out shows, big crowds and plenty of fans who couldn't get inside but still wanted to be close enough to hear the music.
I've never seen anything quite like The Fray in Asbury Park.
On August 19, the crowd stretched far beyond the gates of the Stone Pony. First Avenue was packed. People were standing on car roofs, the Watermark deck was full, and the lawn just off Ocean Avenue was shoulder to shoulder with chairs, families and groups of friends singing and dancing along to every song. The crowd had spilled well beyond the Pony.
The boardwalk was packed too. Fans were singing, dancing and listening to the music coming from the Summer Stage as they moved up and down the boards.
Inside the Stone Pony, the same energy was everywhere. Fans were packed together, singing and dancing through the night. Wherever you could find a place to see or hear The Fray, people were there.
For me, this was easily one of the biggest crowds of the summer.
Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional brought its own following to the Summer Stage. Chris Carrabba has spent years building a very personal connection with his audience, and that connection was obvious throughout the set.
The songs were emotional, direct and familiar to the people who have grown up with them. By the time The Fray came on, the audience was ready for a big night.
The Fray
Then the stage went dark.
Really dark.
The Fray opened with "A Light That Waits," and the lighting stayed restrained enough that, from the photo pit, it was a serious challenge. For a photographer, those moments can be frustrating. They can also force you to work differently, look for the small openings and wait for the light to give you something.
Sometimes those challenges produce some of the best photographs.
I had never seen The Fray live before, so I really didn't know what to expect.
Then Joe King walked onto the stage.
Dressed in black, wearing dark glasses and holding a simple handheld microphone, King immediately took command of the stage. The way he moved across it gave me a flashback to Freddie Mercury. Not because he was copying Mercury, but because he had that same kind of confidence in the way he occupied the space.
He owned the stage from the first song.
King and the band filled the stage with the confidence and presence of a much larger production. Standing in the Stone Pony Summer Stage, it was easy to forget just how intimate the setting actually was.
The piano sitting high on a riser to stage right became part of the visual story. At times it was beautifully lit and completely visible. At others, it dropped back into silhouette while Ben Wysocki took over the visual focus behind the kit.
It was dramatic, deliberate and extremely well executed.
The set covered a lot of ground. "Hurricane," "Heartbeat," "Look After You," "Over My Head (Cable Car)," "Never Say Never," "You Found Me" and, of course, "How to Save a Life" gave the crowd plenty of songs they had been waiting years to hear.
The band also worked in a few surprises, including a piece of Oasis' "Wonderwall" and a New Radicals cover of "You Get What You Give."
But the setlist only tells part of the story.
The crowd told the rest.
People knew the words. They sang from inside the Pony, from the lawn and from the streets around the venue. They danced on the boardwalk and stood wherever they could find a view. The entire area around the Summer Stage was connected to what was happening on that stage.
I've seen plenty of big names come through Asbury Park. I've seen crowds fill the Stone Pony and I've seen fans gather outside because they couldn't get a ticket.
The Fray took that to another level.
My count isn't an official number, but from my point of view, this was the biggest crowd I saw spill out around the Stone Pony Summer Stage this summer.
In a time when some established artists are having trouble filling the venues they once commanded, The Fray showed that its audience is still there and still deeply invested. They weren't going to miss this show. If they couldn't get inside, they found another way to be part of it.
For a photographer, this was one of those nights where the challenges became part of the experience. The opening darkness forced me to look for different moments. The lighting created silhouettes, bursts of detail and photographs that lasted only seconds.
You had to be ready.
The Fray was ready.
So was Asbury Park.
This was one of the Stone Pony Summer Stage's epic shows of 2026, and one of the most memorable concerts I've photographed this summer.
The night ended with "With a Little Help From My Friends," bringing The Fray, Dashboard Confessional and Colony House together onstage.
Thanks, Colony House and Dashboard Confessional. Thanks, The Fray.
The Fray
Dashboard Confessional
The Fray Dashboard Confessional Stone Pony Summer Stage Bill Baumann
