Bleachers, Charli XCX and more comprise a new, electro-pop-laden concert at The Stone Pony Summer Stage this Saturday
ASBURY PARK -- Each time Jack Antonoff performs, the bespectacled frontman announces, "We are Bleachers, and we're from New Jersey."
But when Antonoff, a lifelong Garden State resident, launched his addicting electro-pop project early last year, he had already relocated to Brooklyn. The move was akin to many other local artists, who prefer the trendier, more urban locale as their home base.
Is it acceptable for the 31-year-old guitarist, perhaps best known as one-third of the Grammy-winning New York pop band fun., to fly the New Jersey flag although he no longer lives here?
Yes, it is.
The Bergenfield native earns a pass, because through his love for the Garden State -- the place he says conjures "feelings of wanting, and hope and excitement" -- he's organized one of the most intriguing musical events of the coming fall season.
The new festival, titled Shadow Of The City, will overtake The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park Saturday with a mix of bright pop and alt-rock, led by Antonoff's Bleachers and British "Fancy" singer Charli XCX.
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The fest's ominous-sounding moniker is inspired by Antonoff's early sense of out-of-state alienation, as he played the role of Bergen County outsider at his Manhattan high school.
"Those kids had seen and done it all, and were a little jaded, but me being from New Jersey, I felt like a small kid in a small place, and I had a lot to prove," he says in a recent interview.
After high school, Antonoff's local rock band Steel Train signed to the California punk label Drive-Thru Records and released three LPs to moderate success, but took a hiatus in 2012 when fun.'s sophomore album "Some Nights" caught fire and scored the band a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
A list of international tour dates followed, and sent Antonoff to Europe and Asia, but after all his travel -- Bleachers has already toured overseas as well -- New Jersey was where he chose to create a fresh festival, fittingly inserted into the state's most effervescent music scene.
"Asbury Park at this time of year is at the heart of what New Jersey is," he says. "I wanted to put the festival in a place that was right in the center of everything, and The Stone Pony probably has the richest music history of any music venue in the world."
Shadow of the City joins the shorefront burg's growing list of music festivals, which includes Skate and Surf, Asbury Park Surf Music Festival, Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Festival, and of course, the Springsteen-anchored Light of Day festival.
Antonoff handpicked the Saturday show's talent -- five acts besides his own -- including his county brethren, Woodcliff Lake alt-rockers The Front Bottoms, who played main stage at Asbury's Skate and Surf festival in May, and are excited to return.
"It gives us an opportunity to play in front of more people," says Front Bottoms singer Brian Sella. "It's not going to be 300 people inside The Pony, it's going to be over 1,000, and that alone adds this crazy, cool factor."
Rounding out the lineup are digi-pop risers MisterWives, How To Dress Well and Cults, all native to New York.
"It's a combination of friends who are great artists, and artists who inspire me and I wanted to share the stage with," Antonoff says.
The synth-soaked acts compliment Bleachers, whose nostalgic, echoing tones are equal parts Simple Minds redux and Jersey Shore aspiration.
Besides the music, food trucks, carnival games and arcade games will bolster the fun in between sets, which run from 2 to 10 p.m.
All aspects of the show will be trial and error for Antonoff, who expects to return the festival to the beachfront next year.
"For me, this is year one of something I want to do forever," he says. "I'd like it to be something really intimate, and to be something everyone looks forward to at the end of the summer -- the last big night out before it starts to get cold."
Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.