The Smithereens and John Wesley Harding play Arden Gild Hall on Feb. 6

The New Jersey power-pop band plays a 250-capacity room in February, with Wesley Stace, who records as John Wesley Harding, on the bill. Tickets are $55.

A band with the Smithereens' history doesn't often play a room that holds 250 people. In February it will, at Arden Gild Hall.

The Smithereens play Arden Gild Hall on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027, at 8 p.m., with John Wesley Harding. Tickets are $55 through DICE. The show was announced Oct. 28, and the JamBase listing has the details. Capacity is 250, which leaves very few seats for a band this well known.

The pairing is the story. The Smithereens' official site announced that Wesley Stace, who made his early records as John Wesley Harding before going back to his birth name, has joined the band as a guest vocalist. He's part of a rotating group the band brings out depending on who's available. The others are John Cowsill, Marshall Crenshaw and Robin Wilson. Each one brings something different to the songs, and Stace is the singer-songwriter of the group. The Harding name on this bill points back to his early catalog.

The band has also been looking back. A Connecticut listing for a recent show with Harding describes the Smithereens' latest album as a collection of previously unreleased sessions with Pat DiNizio. A record like that is part archive and part reminder of why the songs have lasted. The band is still playing them live, with guest singers carrying the vocals, and that's what you get at a show like this one.

A record like that is part archive and part reminder of why the songs have lasted.

JamBase tags the show as rock, indie and pop, and for the Smithereens that pop part has always meant big choruses, loud guitars and songs that stick. In a hall built for 250, that will hit differently than it would in a theater or an amphitheater. You'll be close enough to see the guitarists' hands and hear the harmonies without much amplification between you and the stage.

Arden is the right setting for it. For Wilmington-area fans, it's a chance to see a band with this much history up close, without a long drive or a big crowd.

The practical note is the obvious one: 250 tickets won't last. If you've been meaning to see the Smithereens, or you want to hear how Stace takes on their songs, buy through DICE soon rather than waiting until the week of the show. It's a Saturday, so book the sitter early, and leave time to park in Arden before 8.

Some bands earn the big rooms and then rarely come back to the small ones. On Feb. 6, this one does.

Sources: Wesley Stace joins The Smithereens as guest vocalist (Official Smithereens) (officialsmithereens.com); The Smithereens w/ guest vocalist John Wesley Harding (CTvisit) (ctvisit.com); The Smithereens at Arden Gild Hall (JamBase) (jambase.com); Tickets (DICE) (link.dice.fm)