The Smithereens
More than eight years after losing Pat DiNizio, the New Jersey rockers continue to celebrate their past while finding new reasons to keep making music.
October 29, 2026 | Billy Bob’s Texas | Fort Worth, Texas
The Smithereens
There comes a point in the life of a band when the question isn't whether they can still play the songs that made them famous. It's whether those songs can still bring the same joy, excitement, and connection they did decades earlier. For The Smithereens, who took the stage at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth on Thursday night, the answer was pretty clear. Not only can they still deliver, but they're having one hell of a time doing it.
The Smithereens have been part of the American rock landscape since 1980, building a sound that draws from the British Invasion, garage rock, and the raw energy of early rock and roll. Their combination of driving guitars, memorable melodies, and the often-dark, emotionally vulnerable lyrics of founding vocalist Pat DiNizio helped define an era of alternative rock before the term became mainstream.
Jim Babjak - The Smithereens
When DiNizio passed away in December 2017, the surviving members faced a difficult decision. Do they close the book on a band that had been such an important part of their lives, or do they find a way to continue without the voice that had become so closely associated with their music?
For some fans, that question hasn't been easy to answer.
Before Thursday's performance, longtime fan John Taheny shared his mixed emotions about seeing The Smithereens for the first time without DiNizio.
"I'm interested in it, but I'm also a little sad," Taheny explained. He recalled passing up an earlier opportunity to see the band and regretting that decision after learning of DiNizio's death.
Dennis Diken - The Smithereens
Despite that sadness, Taheny was looking forward to hearing the songs again. He also appreciated the band's decision to work with different vocalists rather than appoint one permanent replacement for DiNizio.
"I just want to hear the songs. I want to hear the music again, and I want to hear it live."
That sentiment probably speaks for a lot of Smithereens fans. These are songs tied to specific moments in their lives. They bring back memories of college, relationships, friendships, and a time when discovering a band could become part of your identity.
For founding guitarist Jim Babjak, those memories are an important reason the band continues.
The Smithereens
Speaking with me before the performance, Babjak reflected on the band's history, explaining that he and drummer Dennis Diken had been playing together since 1971, long before The Smithereens were formed. Original bassist Mike Mesaros joined them in 1975, and the three played parties and worked with different singers before meeting DiNizio.
When Pat came along, everything clicked.
Following DiNizio's death, the band organized a tribute concert in New Jersey, bringing together friends and fellow musicians, including Marshall Crenshaw, Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms, Ted Leo, and others. What began as a celebration of their late bandmate became an unexpected opportunity to discover what the future might hold.
Crenshaw and Wilson both offered to front the band for future performances, and The Smithereens realized that continuing didn't have to mean replacing Pat. It could mean keeping the music alive while allowing other musicians to contribute something of themselves.
Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion - The Smithereens
That brings us to Thursday night.
Taking the microphone was Wesley Stace, better known to longtime music fans as John Wesley Harding. Stace proved to be a natural fit, capturing the feel and spirit of The Smithereens without trying to impersonate DiNizio. His vocals carried the familiar melodies with the necessary grit and emotion while adding a slightly different edge that made the performances feel alive rather than recreated.
It was an important distinction. The Smithereens weren't onstage attempting to transport the audience back to 1986. They were playing those songs in 2026, with all the years, experiences, and losses that came between.
And the music was every bit as powerful.
Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding) - The Smithereens
The setlist leaned heavily on classic Smithereens material, the kind of songs that helped establish their reputation for combining power-pop hooks with the muscular guitar sound of a great garage-rock band. They also paid tribute to some of the music that influenced them, delivering covers of The Beatles' "Please Please Me" and The Who's "The Seeker." Both fit comfortably into the evening, reminding the audience where much of The Smithereens' musical DNA originated.
One of the night's most powerful performances came during "House We Used to Live In."
As the song approached its conclusion, Babjak, Diken, and bassist Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion stretched out into a ferocious instrumental jam. Babjak attacked his guitar, Diken drove the rhythm with intensity, and Jornacion matched them with a bass line that kept everything moving.
Jim Babjak - The Smithereens
There was nothing restrained or nostalgic about it. This was a band playing with the same urgency and enthusiasm you might expect from a group of teenagers who had just discovered the joy of making music together.
Close your eyes, and you could almost imagine their younger selves in a rehearsal room decades earlier, pushing each other to play harder and louder simply because it felt so damn good.
At one point, Babjak looked out at the audience and said, "I feel like I'm 14 again."
It was one of the most revealing moments of the evening.
You could see it in his face. The smile, the energy, the obvious pleasure he was getting from playing these songs. This wasn't a musician simply going through the motions of performing material he'd played thousands of times before. It was someone reconnecting with the very reason he picked up a guitar in the first place.
And the audience was right there with him.
Dennis Diken - The Smithereens
Another memorable moment came as Diken began tapping out a familiar rhythm on his hi-hat. Almost in unison, the audience rose to its feet and began counting off the song for the band. Then the bass kicked in, and the unmistakable opening of "Blood and Roses" filled Billy Bob's.
It was a beautiful exchange between musicians and fans. The audience knew exactly what was coming, and rather than simply waiting for the band to launch into one of its most beloved songs, they became part of the introduction.
That kind of interaction can't be manufactured. It's the result of decades of music becoming woven into people's lives.
Diken also took a moment during the show to ask everyone to raise a glass to Pat DiNizio. It was a simple but meaningful tribute, acknowledging the absence that will always be part of a Smithereens performance.
The Smithereens
There was sadness in remembering Pat, but there was also gratitude. Gratitude for the songs he helped create, the years the band spent together, and the fact that those songs continue to bring people together.
For Babjak, moving forward after losing DiNizio was also deeply personal. During our conversation, he spoke about losing his wife to pancreatic cancer and how her encouragement to keep performing helped him understand the importance of continuing to live after devastating loss.
"You got to keep moving," he told me.
He also made it clear that The Smithereens remain his musical home.
"I'm not going to go out and start another band. That's not going to happen. And I don't want to sit around watching TCM and eating cheese doodles. I want to go out there and make people happy."
Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding) - The Smithereens
That outlook says a lot about what this current chapter of The Smithereens represents. Music isn't something these guys used to do. It's something they still need to do.
And there's more to their future than simply touring the old songs.
Babjak revealed that plans are underway to reissue the band's first four Capitol Records albums on vinyl. He'd even suggested colored editions that reflect the original artwork, including white vinyl for Especially for You and green for Green Thoughts. Although the 40th anniversary of Especially for You arrived this year without the planned reissue, the project remains in the works.
Even more interesting is the discovery of approximately 15 unfinished recordings featuring DiNizio on vocals and acoustic guitar, with Babjak's guitar parts already recorded. The material dates from roughly 1999 through 2005. Mesaros and Diken have since added bass and drums, bringing the recordings closer to completion.
That means fans may eventually hear something few probably expected: previously unreleased Smithereens music featuring Pat DiNizio alongside his original bandmates.
Babjak also discussed plans for an entirely new album, potentially featuring vocals from Stace, Crenshaw, Wilson, and the founding members themselves.
The Smithereens
It's an encouraging development for a band that could easily have spent its remaining years performing its greatest hits.
Instead, The Smithereens are still looking for ways to create.
And maybe that's what made Thursday's performance so satisfying.
This was certainly a night full of nostalgia. It was a chance for longtime fans to hear songs they grew up with and to remember a singer whose voice helped make those songs so meaningful. But it was also an opportunity to see a band that isn't interested in becoming a museum piece.
There's something particularly fitting about The Smithereens' history with "Time Won't Let Me," the 1966 garage-rock classic by The Outsiders that the band once covered.
The song's title takes on an entirely different meaning when you consider where The Smithereens are today.
Because, in a way, time is letting them.
The Smithereens
Time is letting Babjak and Diken get back onstage and experience the same excitement they felt when they were kids learning how to play. It's allowing them to honor a friend they lost while continuing to share the music they created together. It's giving fans another opportunity to sing along to songs they thought they might never hear performed live again. And it's making room for new recordings, new collaborators, and new memories.
None of that diminishes Pat DiNizio's legacy. If anything, it reinforces just how much his music continues to mean to the people who created it and the fans who have carried it with them for decades.
The Smithereens have always been a band rooted in the simple pleasures of rock and roll: loud guitars, driving rhythms, great melodies, and songs that make you feel something.
Thursday night at Billy Bob's, they delivered all of it.
Jim Babjak -The Smithereens
And when Babjak smiled and said he felt like he was 14 again, it was hard not to believe him.
For a band that has been making music for more than four decades, maybe that's the greatest accomplishment of all.
They haven't forgotten what made them fall in love with rock and roll in the first place. And, judging by Thursday night's performance, they have no intention of stopping.