Live-music venues worth the trip in Asbury Park, New Jersey

The Stone Pony’s outdoor stage spanning a city block beside the club, expanded in 2009 and since host to Willie Nelson, Incubus and Phoebe Bridgers on warm nights with the ocean across the street.

The 1974 Asbury Park rock club where Southside Johnny’s house band and a 1976 Springsteen broadcast put the Shore on the map, still packing in touring and local bands a block from the beach.

A bowling alley turned rock room in Asbury Park where working lanes and a diner sit alongside a stage that books national and local acts, two blocks from the beach.

A downtown Cookman Avenue concert room a few blocks from the boardwalk that books emerging artists and major touring acts.

A brightly painted corner bar at Fifth and Ocean in Asbury Park, marked by its grinning Tilly face, with a live-music stage a few steps from the boardwalk.