Sat 1/3 @ 7PM
Check out an old friend at a new venue when Donnie Iris and the Cruisers play at the recently opened Celestia Theater, a 900-seat venue at 151 Main Street in downtown Wadsworth, which includes the Flame Backstage Grille & Bar for pre-show dining for ticket holders. While it’s been hosting performances for a few months, it’s billing this show as its “grand opening celebration.”
Donnie Iris and the Cruisers built a following in northeast Ohio over the last four decades that’s almost as big as the one they have in their western Pennsylvania homebase. The 82-year-old singer first made his mark with the Jaggerz, who had a hit in 1970 with “The Rapper” (it had nothing to do with rap as we know it today), before hooking up with Cleveland keyboard player/songwriter Mark Avsec and forming the Cruisers, with Avsec bringing in drummer Kevin Valentine who played with him in Jonah Koslen’s Breathless, and adding guitarist Marty Lee and bassist Albritton McLain. The Iris/Avsec-penned song “Ah! Leah” in 1981 put them on the map and they’ve performed ever since. In Cleveland, they frequently opened to the Michael Stanley band and Michael Stanley’s Resonators, giving them a built-in audience in this area.
Opening the show is Akron’s Brian Lisik and his latest band the Immoral Standards. Lisik has been part of the northeast Ohio music scene since the late 1990s, when he was with indie rockers Giants of Science. Since then he’s released a string of solo albums, including 2025’s Goodnight, Detroit, recorded live in 2024 at Trixie’s Bar in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Go here for tickets.