[1] Influential musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Bill Chinnock, Southside Johnny (John Lyon), David Sancious, Little Steven Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez, and Danny Federici first honed their live performance skills at the club.

Since the turn of the century, its music community has included John Philip Sousa, Artie Shaw, and various Broadway theater lyricists and contemporary artists.

[5] The Upstage Club was opened by Tom and Margaret Potter in 1968 at Cookman Avenue & Bond Street, Asbury Park, New Jersey, above a Thom McAn shoe store.

[6][1] In his 2006 book about the Asbury Park music scene, Beyond the Palace, Gary Wien wrote, "This is where it all began...Musicians gathered each night at a club on the corner of Cookman Avenue and Bond Street that was set on top of a Thom McAn shoe store.

The Upstage brought the sights of San Francisco psychedelia and the sounds of Greenwich Village together in an endless array of all night jam sessions, which attracted the best young musicians in the area.

"[7][8] In 1970, shortly after the Club opened, riots tore through Asbury Park, damaging the musically rich Springwood Avenue area, and drug use increased.

[6] Up to that point in Asbury's history, Black bands did not play the boardwalk clubs, and it was rare for white musicians to perform in the African-American music scene of Springwood Avenue on the West Side.

In the late 1960s, Bruce Springsteen played at the Upstage Club with John Lyon, Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, Danny Federici, David Sancious, and Vini Lopez.

[10] Van Zandt Garry Tallent, Danny Federici, Vini Lopez and David Sancious, all later joined Springsteen in the E Street Band.