The Bronx Wanderers

Notes

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LVA Review

(This show was reviewed in the August 2019 LVA; some of the information contained in the review may no longer be accurate.)

The Bronx Wanderers is the name of a colossal six-piece band, fronted by 61-year-old Vinny Adinolfi, a longtime producer for Columbia Records whose dream had always been to be a bandleader on the Las Vegas Strip. After being downsized out of his job when Sony bought out Columbia, he started a band with musicians from his Italian-American Bronx neighborhood; over the years, they were replaced by Vinny’s two sons, drummer Nicky and singer and multi-instrumentalist Vin A., along with three of their friends from high school. As classic-rock cover bands go, it’s hard to imagine a tighter or more polished and entertaining sextet.

The pre-show on large screens surrounding the stage sets the scene with clips from TV, movies, and music videos from the ’60s and ’70s, until the band stomps onstage and bangs out “The Wanderer.” Then Vinny launches into the narration that provides the background and fills the space between songs. Though at times there are a few too many spoken words, from the first note of the next song, the needle hits the red zone on the energy meter: a five-song Four Seasons medley; Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”; some Neil Diamond and Stray Cats; and Eric Burdon’s “We Gotta Get out of This Place” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” (with screen scenes from Vietnam). The show switches eras in order to give the boys their due with “Uptown Funk” (Vin A. doing a killer Bruno Mars), then flashes back to a Vinny duet with a screen Elvis and his gospel choir on a couple of tunes. Add in some Queen, Beatles, and a little more Four Seasons and by the time the show is over, you feel like you grew up on Arthur Avenue and shared a Bronx street corner with this bunch.

There’s really not a bad seat and at the Sunday 4 pm show we attended, the usher asked us if we wanted to move closer from the cheap seats. The Wanderers spent a couple years in the intimate Windows Showroom at Bally’s before moving into the larger Mat Franco Theater at The LINQ, where they’ve apparently cranked up the volume, so if you don’t want your ears ringing for hours after the show, take some precaution (in other words, earplugs).