The Verve Pipe
The Celestia Theater
Wadsworth OH
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026
By Rob McCune
About halfway in to a set at The Celestia Theater, about 40 miles south of Cleveland, The Verve Pipe’s Brian Vander Ark exorcised “the ghost of a 1950s principal” from the former high school auditorium, urging the properly seated crowd to thumb their noses at the aura of authority, get on their feet and rush the stage.
The Verve Pipe then tore the figurative roof off the place.
Vander Ark, who with his brother Brad founded the band in 1992, professed that he was “having the time of his life in Wadsworth, Ohio,” and it was evident in the show that these alt-rock veterans put on.
Van Arlo, an Ohio-based band led by Ben Marthey, warmed up the crowd on a frigid January night, supported by a full band, including a four-piece string orchestra that added an ethereal ambience, especially on a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight.” The opener closed with some crowd participation on an original, “Slow It Down.”
With 10 albums, including a “Reconciled,” released in 2025, and two children’s albums, two EPs and a trio of compilations, The Verve Pipe could have easily packed a 90-minute set on their own. Instead, the band played for nearly two hours, cut Samurai-like with several surprising snippets.
Starting with “Ark of the Envious,” off the band’s “I’ve Suffered a Head Injury” EP that dropped in 1992, and then “Photograph,” off their breakout ’96 album “Villains,” the set weaved wondrously through 30 years of Verve, deftly withholding the biggest hits for later while keeping the crowd on their toes.
Vander Ark early on played with a couple of verses of Kansas’s “Dust in the Wind,” reminiscing about the music he grew up with. A little later, as his band abandoned the stage briefly, he stood solo in blue spotlight and played a riff that rang familiar with the audience, teasing: “You know this one?” Wielding his guitar like a lighting bolt, he roused Mount Olympus itself with a stirring rendition of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” that would’ve made Chris Cornell proud.
As the crowd rallied around the stage, The Verve Pipe rocked out on “Villains,” the title track off the ’96 record and “Tattoo,” a favorite track off of the new album that is likely to imprint on both faithful and new fans.
Face-melting solos center-stage by guitarist Lou Musa, who joined the band in 2008, and the thunderous assault of original drummer Daine Hammerle punctuated a performance unprecedented for this old-made-new venue.
Meanwhile, the band’s newest member Channing Lee, joining in 2014, was sensational on backing vocals, keys, tambourine, her own solo – an echo-pedal-powered acapella on “Bridges Are Burning” – and in a penultimate take-no-prisoners mashup of “Happiness Is,” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”
The night ended with a 20-minute, full-out jam on Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” that left hearts pumping and feet stomping, proving that The Verve Pipe has never lost its verve.
Rob McCune is Every_Thing_After_Photo on Instagram, where he shares his concert photography and reviews, as well as clips from his “Every.Thing.After” podcast, with interviews with musicians and bands.
