Bradley Beach|Local Event
Melting Waves Music Fest 2026
Every fest needs an origin story, and this one started with a dude, flippin’ burgers, building a playlist.
It began behind the grill at Bond Street Bar in Asbury Park, NJ, where Joe Brown built a playlist to keep up with the songs his best friend Steve and mentor Mike "OG" Longo kept feeding him. Somewhere along the way that playlist gained a bunch of followers and turned into a whole ecosystem, first bands submitting tracks via email, then the lightbulb moment of taking the submissions to the next level and letting bands know they have a home to play in Asbury Park, submissions turned into shows, shows turned into the opportunity to book the Bond Street Block Party, which he took over in '25. Melting Waves is the next chapter…no longer borrowing someone else's block party, this is Melting Trends very own festival, born from that same daydreaming-behind-a-grill energy and landing this November at Asbury Lanes.
Eighteen bands, two days, a specific lane: psych, garage, stoner, and shoegaze, AND adjacent genres that just somehow fit the bill.
THE LINEUP