Summer Concerts
From 1981 through 2009, the Tidalwaves band performed live concerts annually at Higgins Beach in Scarborough, Maine on or around July 4th. If you were there, we hope you enjoyed them. If you missed them, 77 songs from various concerts and recording sessions, including our 1988 cassette “No Day At The Beach” now on Tsunami Records, have been published on YouTube. Hover over Tidalwaves & Tap ‘Videos’ to watch them or for a list of the songs performed over the years, tap on ‘Set Lists’.
Changes
The band has been through several changes over the years. See the ‘History’ and ‘Band Members’ links on the menu above.
Thanks
To our fans – we thank you for your support over the years. We consider ourselves fortunate to have done what we love and share it with others.
We’ve added a few pictures of the group. Tap ‘Photos’.
Barry Atwood’s band “Love Equation” opened for Janis Joplin at Colby College in 1969. Debbie Heald’s band “Family Affair” played Maine and Massachusetts in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Check ‘Band Evolutions’ for pictures of their bands.
For fun, we’ve added lists of Dave’s favorite R&B / doo wop, Christmas, Slow Dance, Hot Rockers and Instrumentals.
Also listed only here are Rare R&B doo wop re-issues on Last Chance Records and Lost Night Records released during the 1960’s and 70’s.
Several bands have used similar names. See ‘Other Tidal Wave Bands’ for a short write-up on each group.
A link to our Facebook page is also on the left nav.
History
Dave Mac Donald started playing guitar in 1963 with help from Roy Gould at the Beta Upsilon chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Univeristy of Maine, Orono. In the spring of 1964 Sarge Means ran for campus mayor and asked Dave and Rod Brown to play on the back of an open flat bed. They had serious misgivings, but Sarge assured them that truck would be constantly moving so they could play one song continuously without fear of exposing their limited ability. So they played ‘Wipe Out’ – over and over – but suddenly realized all motion had stopped and looked up. To their horror, the flat bed had stopped and there were more than 60 kids dancing in the street! Someone yelled “keep playing, they love it!”and so the “Go Nads” were formed. They played one dance which ended when they ran out of the 4 songs they had quickly learned and had played them for the 3rd time. (Wipe Out, Louie, Louie, Torture, Torquay). They jammed together until the semester ended.