The Smithereens at Sony Hall 4/29/22

I was a big fan of The Smithereens during the 80’s and 90’s, collecting most of their (vinyl) albums and inflicting them on my young daughters, along with the other punk/pop/rock bands in my collection, during their formative years.

The Smithereens hailed from Carteret, New Jersey, and had a straight-ahead style with great melodies and lyrics. And guitar hooks that sunk into you. Probably their best-known songs were “Blood and Roses” and “A Girl Like You”.

When I heard they’d be doing a concert in New York, I started doing math — they started playing over 40 years ago. And I heard that their lead guy, Pat DiNizio, died a few years ago, so I was wondering how they’d pull it off.

Well, it turns out the surviving Smithereens (Jim Babjak on guitar, Severo Jornacion on bass, and Dennis Diken on drums) have a few friends. They were joined in New York by Marshall Crenshaw and Robbie Wilson, lead singer for the Gin Blossoms, another pop band that went sideways after losing its lead man.

When my brother Vince and I got to Sony Hall, we hiked downstairs to the show area, which was set up dinner-theater style with tables and chairs. Not exactly the mosh-type venue we’d been before. And the crowd was a dedicated set of Smithereens Loyal. Meaning, Geezers like us. Maybe even older, and worse-dressed. I had this overwhelming sense of dread that we had crashed a really, really awful bar-mitzvah reception with an over-the-hill lounge band that had just been put together.

But no. The Smithereens, rounded out by their new vocalist/guitar friends, put on a terrific show. The band sounded tight, everybody was in sync, and the sound system at Sony Hall was great. The Smithereens belted out one number after another, including great songs like “Behind the Wall of Sleep”, “Green Thoughts”, and “House We Used to Live In”.

Early on, the band raised a glass to the memory of Pat DiNizio, and the rest of the night was a celebration of his legacy. In addition to Smithereens hits, we were treated to a cover of The Who’s “Sparks” from the rock opera Tommy. Crenshaw and Wilson performed the Gin Blossom’s “Til I Hear It From You”. The band regrouped for a cover of Badfinger’s “No Matter What” and the Beatles’ “Please Please Me” before wrapping up with “A Girl Like You”.

It was a great two-hour show.