WELLFLEET – Wavy Gravy’s words to 400,000 people at Woodstock came to mind on Saturday night as I was standing with about 150 people watching the Rockin’ Dune Tunes concert in the parking lot at White Crest Beach: “We must be in heaven, man!”
Seriously. As the Atlantic Ocean absorbed the end of the day in the background, band after band took the stage directly in front of the White Crest Beach sign. It capped the end of a perfect early summer day.
The sun took its sweet time setting. Heaven was right here.
The first band up was Tsunami of Sound, a super tight surf rock band with bright pink jackets and a sound to match. Here is a song called “Journey To The Stars” by The Ventures.
By the time I figured out what Rockin’ Dune Tunes was all about, The Angry Debutantes were warming up.
It turns out that this annual concert is a tribute to Trey Helliwell, who died tragically 20 years ago. Longtime friends of Helliwell, Henry Marcucella III and Joe Serio, put on this concert in his honor.
Helliwell used to put on shows in Wellfleet at the Beachcomber and other places, said Marcucella.
Oh yeah, The Angry Debutantes. Here they are with the beginning of “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, mashed together with a performance from later in the night, a musician calling himself “Andy California” declaring, in his own way, that he is at the beach.
And then there was Crow Follow, a band that I loved. For one thing, every one of them looked like they could be some child’s lovable grandparent. And for another, they put out some angry original rock and roll that was great.
For instance, here is their song, “Doom Buggy.”
The show continued but I had to drive from Wellfleet back to Falmouth. It was almost 10 p.m. when I left with three bands still to go.
I wanted to stick around, especially to see Atlantic Thrills, who I had seen in 2017. But driving from one end of Cape Cod to the other is far, and so, for me, the show ended sooner than I wanted.
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