Jaws With Live Orchestra Amplifies Suspense At Beach Road Weekend

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — Combine the shark craze of the Cape and Islands with the grooving tradition of a summer music festival and what you get is Beach Road Weekend. The three-day festival, which opened Friday, included a screening of "Jaws" accompanied by a live orchestra, performances by local bands, and more to create something uniquely Martha's Vineyard.

Beach Road Weekend stayed true to the festival's roots by including a stage dedicated for local musicians. Friday saw Firstbourne and Super Diamond take the stage. Both are well known on the island; Super Diamond in particular got the crowd going with its assortment of Neil Diamond covers, garnering energetic singalongs.

The "Jaws" screening was the true love letter to Martha's Vineyard, though. Steven Spielberg's classic thriller was filmed on the island and heavily featured Gay Head Lighthouse, Big Bridge, the Steamship Authority, and plenty of other island landmarks that the locals pointed out.

Still, Beach Road Weekend made the screening special for those repeat viewers, as the Cape Cod Symphony accompanied the movie with John William's legendary score. The symphony timed every beat of the score to perfection, and being used to live performances, it knew when to intensify and when to quiet the tone for some of the movie's more light-hearted moments.

Classic lines like, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," and "You open the beach on the Fourth of July, it’s like ringing the dinner bell for Christ’s sake," drew huge laughs from crowds of families lounging in beach chairs and some hammocks the festival provided.

Having those tense pieces of music play live as Bruce devoured Quint, Chrissie Watkins, and the other victims only added to the nostalgic horror that kept tons of beach-goers out of the water after Jaw's original release.

"It scared the (expletive) out of me," Bobby Pellegrini, of Falmouth said, reminiscing about seeing the movie when it first came out.

Pellegrini said he still went swimming, but was always looking over his shoulder.

Dougie Norton, a Martha's Vineyard resident, wasn't alive when Jaws came out, but said his mother didn't go in the water again until five years after seeing the movie. Norton still went swimming, but said he never looked at the ocean the same again.

"I still went swimming a lot, but I was always cautious about it, but didn't like swimming alone."

Norton talked about how the shark phobia Jaws created is still relevant today. Since the beginning of July, there have already been about 40 beach closings from great white shark sightings. But Norton, his friend Alex Magle, Pellegrini, his wife Anna, and their son Nico still swim at the Cape and Islands' beaches, but said they use common sense.

"We all know if you see a seal in the water, you don't go swimming," said Norton. "Respect the water."