Mike DelGuidice opens intimate Live on the Porch in Smithtown

Smithtown now has a live-music room designed to feel more like a close-up concert living room than a club, and Mike DelGuidice is using it to make a case that central Suffolk can sustain its own nightlife destination.

Live on the Porch opened at 602 Smithtown Bypass in a roughly 4,000-square-foot space built around 127 seats, a mezzanine overlooking the stage, an L-shaped bar and a second stage. The building was gutted and its roof raised 35 feet to make the sightlines work, a sign of how deliberately the room was shaped for intimacy rather than capacity.

DelGuidice spent nearly a decade moving the project from idea to reality, with the last four years described as the stretch from concept to creation. The room’s name traces back to his pandemic-era Facebook Live series, when he performed from home and connected with fans in real time. That online project gave the venue its identity and helped turn a homebound livestream into a physical performance space on Smithtown Bypass.

DelGuidice is already one of Long Island’s most recognizable live performers. He fronts Big Shot, the Billy Joel tribute band, and has toured with Billy Joel’s band since 2013. Live on the Porch extends that career in a different direction, giving original artists, singer-songwriters, comedians and cover acts a smaller stage where the audience sits close enough to feel part of the room.

The official opening weekend fell on May 15, following a soft opening earlier in the month, and Suffolk County Legislator Sal Formica attended a friends-and-family ribbon cutting. Formica said the venue would give live music, comedy and local talent a place to shine. The venue’s website now bills it as an intimate room for original artists, singer-songwriters, comedy and great cover music.

The opening also fits into a larger question for Smithtown and the North Shore corridor: whether the town can build a broader nighttime arts identity beyond the usual Huntington and Patchogue circuits. Smithtown has long been described locally as a place with dining, nightlife and cultural attractions, but a room like Live on the Porch gives that reputation a more concrete anchor. If the crowd follows the concept, the result could be more than a single opening. It could mark a new, smaller-scale hub for live performance in central Suffolk.