Resurgent power-poppers the Smithereens might just ignite Orlando with overdue comeback

Nirvana stan or not, it’s impossible to deny that late frontman Kurt Cobain had damned good musical taste. Whether it was sporting a Daniel Johnston T-shirt in photo shoots, bringing out the Breeders on tour or producing the Melvins’ Houdini, the man was eager to share his influences with his own audiences.

Nestled amongst Cobain’s Half Japanese and Young Marble Giants LPs, another treasured album was the breakout 1989 album 11 by New Jersey power-pop maestros The Smithereens. The record turned up twice at pivotal moments in Cobain lore: Nirvana had a copy of 11 in the studio when they were recording Nevermind with Butch Vig to regularly consult, and the record appeared in Cobain’s list of favorite albums in his posthumously published journals.

The reasons for Cobain’s ardor were (and are) easy to hear. The Smithereens, much like the boys from Aberdeen, combined lush Beatles-esque vocal harmonies and melodies with alternately jangly and crunchy, serrated guitar lines, buoying frontman Pat DiNizio’s lovelorn lyrics and lost-boy delivery — exemplified in anthems like “A Girl Like You,” “Too Much Passion” and “Only a Memory.” 

This was a band that looked cool too. Decked out in leather, severe sunglasses, turtlenecks and berets, they looked like particularly rebellious Beat poets, up for a good rumble over the merits of Rimbaud vs. Verlaine.

Though the band narrowly missed a chance to have their “A Girl Like You” be the John Cusack boombox song on Say Anything (don’t fret, their music was in Troma films instead), the Smithereens weren’t just some blip on the pop-cult radar. Their underground cred was equally matched with a fair degree of commercial success: signed to major label Capitol, where they released four albums; radio hits with “Girl Like You” and “Blood and Roses” (also featured on an episode of Miami Vice); tours with Tom Petty, Lou Reed and the Ramones; inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. (Not to mention gigs at Visage.) This a band that did — and does — it their way.

The Smithereens are still at it in 2026. Weathering the passing of frontman Pat DiNizio in 2017, original members drummer Dennis Diken and guitarist Jim Babjak are joined by bassist Mike Mesaros, backing a rotation of all-star fill-ins for DiNizio: Marshall Crenshaw, Gin Blossoms’ Robin Wilson and John Cowsill of The Cowsills. The love of music, honoring DiNizio’s memory and the joy of playing the much-loved parts of their deep discography pushes members new and old onto the stage night after night, with the band keeping a busy touring schedule.

“When Pat passed, we were dumbstruck for a few beats there. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Pat left us in December of 2017; we already had a gig on the books for January ’18 at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank. It was an event produced by Little Steven Van Zandt. He said, ‘Guys, let’s keep the date. You fellas will play and we’ll enlist a bunch of other singers and we’ll turn it into a tribute to Pat,’ which is what we did. I think we had 20 or so different vocalists come up at night and sing Smithereens songs with Mike, Jimmy and myself. It was one of those nights where you could feel the love in the room. It was so strong. That’s how we came to feel that Marshall and Robin were good fits,” remembers Diken. “We wanted to keep going, but at the same time we certainly did not want to have a sound-alike or a lookalike, or anybody that was going to imitate Pat.” 

For Diken, the band’s fans played just as key a role in the band’s resurgence as the new singers. “Our audience has been real, real staunch,” he says. “They’ve been with us for 46 years. We could never have done any of this without their love and support.” 

This week sees the Smithereens returning to Orlando after a long absence — drummer Diken fills in the gaps in our memory by reminding us they were here for a gig at EPCOT a few years back — this time on a Southern summer jaunt with The Fixx. The Smithereens circa 2026 understand the assignment and play the hits and the fan-fave deep cuts.

“As a fan, if I go see my favorite bands, I’m gonna want to hear the songs I’m familiar with, and so we take that into consideration. We don’t omit any of the bigger hits, so to speak. They’re all on tap in our setlist, and we kind of tailor it towards who the vocalist is for a given gig, because certain singers prefer certain songs. But besides the hits, we do dig into the album tracks and select them accordingly,” says Diken. 

For this tour, it’s Cowsill’s turn to cover vocals. He came to the band organically in the best of ways, through friendship and appreciation of his previous creative work. Diken remembers seeing The Cowsills play the Henry Ford  Theater with Screaming Trees and being so “knocked out” by the power of the band’s vocal harmonies that he and Babjak promptly went backstage to ask members of the band to sing on Blow Up track “Now and Then” in 1991. And they’ve remained friends (and fans of one another’s work) over the ensuing years.

Though DiNizio is an incredibly tough act to follow, Cowsill is able to walk that fine line of honoring DiNizio’s harmonies while adding his own creative stamp to familiar Smithereens gems.

“‘Now and Then’ is one that has a special place in John’s heart because The Cowsills did sing on the record. He has, I think, a spiritual connection to that one. There’s a song called ‘She’s Got a Way’ that John and Jimmy both can identify with, because it was written about Pat’s daughter, and John has a daughter, and Jimmy now has a granddaughter. So that song really resonates with him as well. Those are two we start the show with.”

The band let loose a little bit live nowadays with Who and Beatles covers slipped into the setlists, like they’re back in the New Jersey garages and laundry rooms where the young band first started playing together in 1980. And they might just air some of those covers of teenage hits this weekend at the Plaza Live.

“We learned to play from listening to records, so that whole feeling of staying connected to what made us want to start out doing this in the first place is still very strong,” says Diken.

The Fixx, The Smithereens: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18, Plaza Live, 425 N. Bumby Ave., plazaliveorlando.org, SOLD OUT.

This article appears in July 15-21, 2026.