SMITHTOWN, N.Y. — Long Island has a new live music venue, but the story behind it is much bigger than another room with a stage.

Mike DelGuidice’s Live on the Porch is now open at 602 Smithtown Bypass in Smithtown, bringing an intimate, 127-seat listening-room experience to Long Island with a focus on original artists, singer-songwriters, comedy and select cover acts.

For anyone who has followed DelGuidice’s career on Long Island, the venue feels like the latest chapter in a story that could only happen here.

Because before DelGuidice was touring arenas with Billy Joel, he was playing Joel’s music in bars and clubs across Long Island.

And before Live on the Porch became a physical venue, it was exactly what the name suggests: Mike, a piano and an audience connecting from his porch.

It started with Big Shot

DelGuidice spent years building Big Shot, the Billy Joel tribute band that became one of Long Island’s best-known live acts.

The idea grew out of DelGuidice’s years performing locally. He had originally considered creating a Paul McCartney tribute before realizing the obvious connection sitting right in front of him: this was Long Island, Billy Joel was Long Island, and audiences already associated DelGuidice with performing Joel’s music.

Big Shot eventually grew well beyond the typical tribute-band circuit, playing larger clubs, theaters and festivals while assembling musicians with deep connections to Joel’s world. DelGuidice’s current official site still describes Big Shot as featuring longtime members of Billy Joel’s band and musicians associated with Movin’ Out and Joel’s Last Play at Shea concerts.

And then something happened that almost sounds made up.

Billy Joel noticed him.

From singing Billy Joel to singing WITH Billy Joel

DelGuidice’s relationship with Joel developed over years, but the defining moment came in 2013.

During rehearsals at The Paramount in Huntington, DelGuidice was invited to perform with Joel and his musicians. Afterward, Joel pulled him aside privately and asked if he wanted to join the band for a run of shows in Europe.

The singer who had built a career performing Billy Joel songs was suddenly standing beside Billy Joel performing them.

DelGuidice has remained part of Joel’s touring band ever since, performing around the world and appearing during Joel’s historic Madison Square Garden residency. His role has also gone far beyond background vocals or rhythm guitar; Joel has repeatedly given DelGuidice moments in the spotlight, including vocal showcases during major concerts.

It is one of the more remarkable Long Island music success stories: a local musician builds a Billy Joel tribute band, gets discovered by Billy Joel himself and ultimately joins the real band.

WLIT.FM has its own history with Mike

Mike’s Long Island roots are also why this story hits particularly close to home for us at WLIT.FM.

WLIT.FM CEO Cory Poccia has worked with DelGuidice many times over the years, including shows and events at venues like Mulcahy’s and The Nutty Irishman.

Those are exactly the kinds of rooms where Long Island musicians build careers: crowded local clubs, recurring gigs and audiences that come back because they know the performers.

Long before Live on the Porch, DelGuidice was one of those artists constantly working the Long Island circuit, and Big Shot became a fixture of that live-music ecosystem. Mulcahy’s continues to appear throughout Big Shot’s performance history, including DelGuidice-promoted appearances with the full band and horn section.

That makes what he is doing now feel somewhat full-circle.

He spent years relying on Long Island venues to give him a stage.

Now he built one.

Live on the Porch is intentionally different

Live on the Porch is not designed to be another giant concert hall.

The roughly 4,000-square-foot venue has only 127 seats, along with a mezzanine overlooking the stage, an L-shaped bar and a second performance area. The goal is to keep the audience unusually close to the performers.

That size is important.

DelGuidice has talked openly about how difficult it can be for musicians to walk into a traditional Long Island bar or club and play original music when the audience may simply be waiting for songs they already know.

Live on the Porch is designed to reverse that expectation.

The venue describes itself as a home for original artists, singer-songwriters, comedy and great cover music, with DelGuidice emphasizing that he wants artists to have a place where their own songs are actually the reason people came through the door.

That could make Live on the Porch an important room for the next generation of Long Island musicians.

Why “Live on the Porch”?

The name goes back to DelGuidice’s online performances.

During the pandemic, he began broadcasting performances from his home under the name Live on the Porch, playing music, talking with viewers and performing his own songs. His boxer, Max, became part of the experience and a familiar presence to fans watching online.

Those livestreams did something important for DelGuidice creatively.

They showed him that audiences would stay and listen to his original music — not just the Billy Joel songs they already knew.

That realization became part of the inspiration for the physical venue.

The new location even incorporates pieces of that history, including DelGuidice’s original porch piano and a tribute area to Max.

A venue built around artists, not just shows

There is something particularly fitting about DelGuidice being the person behind this concept.

His career demonstrates both sides of the Long Island music business.

He knows what it means to play covers because that helped him support his family and build an audience.

He knows what it means to write original music and wonder whether anyone wants to hear it.

He knows what it means to grind through local rooms.

And he also knows what it feels like when somebody at the highest possible level notices the work.

Now he is trying to build a room where another artist might get that first opportunity.

The current calendar already reflects that mix. Live on the Porch is hosting singer-songwriters, jazz and rock performers, original-music nights and DelGuidice’s own shows, including an upcoming full-band performance devoted entirely to his original material.

From local bars to Madison Square Garden — and back home

DelGuidice was born in Smithtown and raised in Miller Place. He played local bars, built Big Shot, became one of Long Island’s recognizable working musicians and eventually found himself touring the world with one of the most important artists Long Island has ever produced.

But rather than leaving the local scene behind, he has now invested directly back into it.

That may be the most interesting part of Live on the Porch.

This is not a musician opening a venue because he needed someplace else to perform.

It is a musician who spent decades learning exactly what performers need from a room — and then decided to build that room himself.

WLIT.FM takeaway

Long Island has always had incredible musicians.

What it does not always have are enough venues willing to give original music the same attention as familiar songs.

Mike DelGuidice knows that problem better than most.

He built Big Shot by performing the music of Billy Joel. That band ultimately helped put him in front of Billy Joel himself. He went from Long Island clubs to performing alongside the Piano Man around the world.

Now he has come back to Smithtown and created Live on the Porch, a place where another local singer-songwriter might begin a completely different version of that same journey.

For Long Island music, that is something worth rooting for.

Sources

Greater Long Island; Live on the Porch official website; Mike DelGuidice official website; NBC New York; Suffolk County Legislature; New York Post; Mike DelGuidice official social media.