No, not D’Annunzio, Pat DiNizio, lead singer of the Smithereens. Pat was in town on Friday night at Shank Hall for a solo gig. He was very proud to point out that the Smithereens are, in fact, still together, still recording, and still touring. This just happened to be a solo show.
Judy & I got there nice and early, and walked into a nearly empty room. I’m not sure why, but they seemed to have the heat turned off, so we spent most of the pre-show time next to a gas fireplace. After a little while, some guy walked over to join us and warm his hands. Turned out to be Pat. I’m a big, big fan of the Smithereens, so I say this with no disrespect, but he has not aged gracefully. I did not recognize him until he started talking about his apartment in NYC, then excused himself to go put together the set list.
Once the show got going, a few more people showed up. I’d say there were 25 or so - which is still a small show. It was s great set, he played for about an hour and a half. Up until his “encore”, where he played a few of his own songs, the set consisted almost entriely of Smithereens songs. I can’t think of anything I wanted to hear that he didn’t play. He also did a few covers - Beatles, the Who, and a sarcastic America song (well, “the” America song).
All in all, a great performance. Once of the highlights was a group of guys who had hosted Pat the night before for a “Living Room Concert” down in Kenosha. Or Racine. They were quite a hoot - in particular one guy who was *way* to into it. He did everything but hold up a lighter during the slow songs.
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