[ATTENDED: August 25, 2013] The Smithereens
Photo credit: Maryanne Mistretta (see below for link to her blog)
I’ve liked a number of Smithereens songs for many years. I even bought their greatest hits. But I never really think about them. And yet, the opening bass line to “Blood and Roses” is one of the best opening bass lines in rock music. It’s so deep and groovy.
But so imagine my surprise to see that The Smithereens were playing a free concert at Duke Island Park, about ten minutes from my house. What was especially weird is that most of the free concerts are oldies singers (The Duprees) and cover bands (Tusk, THE B STREET BAND). But here was the honest to God Smithereens. Now, I realize they’re not remotely as popular as they were, but it was really them. They’re from Carteret and Scotch Plains, NJ, so they were playing to a happy local crowd. They also told some very funny stories about growing up in Somerset County (and going to the Blue Star).
They sounded amazing and Pat DiNizio’s voice hasn’t changed a bit in thirty some years. I had assumed that they were doing the standard reunion tour, but The Smithereens have been making music all along. I was surprised to find out that they have released a number of albums since the last one I’d heard of (which I think is God Save the Smithereens, although maybe I’m retroactively remembering that one. Anyhow, they went on a hiatus after that 1999 album but starting in 2007, they’ve released a bunch of things.
Oddly, two of them are Beatles covers albums and one is a Who covers album (all of which have great cover art, but apparently sounds just like The Smithereens covering The Beatles and The Who). There’s also a Christmas album and a Live album—not exactly inspired output. But they did release an album of new material in 2011 (called 2011). All of this stuff (and T-shirts and a cool poster) were available at the show, but I didn’t feel like spending $20 on any of it.
The first delight of the night was how good the band sounded. Pat DiNizio’s voice sounds amazing—just like it did on their classic albums. Jim Babjak, rocks the lead guitar. Severo “The Thrilla” (from Manila) Jornacion played an amazing bass and Dennis Diken was a really solid drummer–.
The set started with some new songs. I didn’t know them, but they sounded like The Smithereens. The middle of the set included a number of Beatles covers. And then came what we were all waiting for: the six (yes, six) great Smithereens hits from the late 80s:
“Behind the Wall of Sleep”
“Top of the Pops”
“Blood and Roses” (which was a wee bit slower than it should have been, boo)
“Only a Memory”
“House That We Used to Live In”
And of course:
“A Girl Like You” (with a few verses of Behind Blue Eyes throw in).
And each song sounded great
The odd thing for me was that our kids were at this show. (The Smithereens kept it very clean, thanks guys). The park has a playground right next to it so the kids were off on the swings and playing with other kids. They were running around, making a ton of noise and it was all okay because no one paid for the show. That also meant I didn’t get to pay quite as much attention as I would have liked. So the set list is a bit fuzzy to me.
It also turns out that if you were up front (there was plenty of space) you could not only hear great but you could hear everyone singing a long):
I took some photos but I stole the one above from MaryAnne because it was much better than mine. She has some even better ones there too.
In addition to the video above, I also found this one. It’s not the best video (and I wish it was a song I knew better), but you can hear his voice sounds great:
I know it’s hard to beat a free concert, but a free concert of a band you actually like, where your kids can play and have fun and you can dance to some great classic songs…and where the weather is perfect and despite being right on the river there are no mosquitoes…and you can get home in 15 minutes? Sounds perfect to me.
Thank you Somerset County Parks. Who will you bring next year?
I Just Read About That... 
Excellent review! And I agree, this was the one free summer concert I wanted to check out because it was an original act. I’m linking your blog to my Face Book page and reblogging on my blog (which is really a diary for me). Thanks so much for posting my photo. (Can you put a photo credit underneath it? That would be super amazing cool)
CHEERS!
Maryanne 🙂
Reblogged this on Maryanne Mistretta and commented:
I RARELY re-blog, but this was a fantastic review of last night’s concert!
They’re in some ways just as popular as they’ve always been. Did they mention that they opened for Tom Petty a few times this summer… and that Governor Christie asked Pat how those gigs went during Christie’s stop in Scotch Plains, when Pat was walking by?
Thanks George. I had no idea! Hooray for the Smithereens
[…] Since our tubing trip last week we’ve kept pretty busy, especially over the weekend. We attended another county 4H Fair Took a trip to strange and exotic southern New Jersey to buy more chickens from a recommended farm, but the farm was filthy and crowded and weird, so instead we popped in to a festival at a winery and also went to a customer appreciation day (we’re not customers!) at a horse store, which was surprisingly fun. Then we capped off that day with a game night with Liz & Eleanor, which included lots of homemade pizza using many fresh tomatoes from the garden. Then the next day we went to a nearby park to see The Smithereens in concert! Our parks department always has a summer concert series, but we never go because it’s usually cover bands that we’re not really keen on. But this was a real band! With hits we knew! And a beautiful summer evening. It was marvelous. Here’s Paul’s write up with pictures. […]