Elizabeth Hunt
The Bronx Wanderers opened at the Mat Franco Theater at the Linq this week.
Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019 | 2 a.m.
The Bronx Wanderers have been a touring rock and roll show for a dozen years but the later part of that run was spent trying to get to Las Vegas. Why? It was for dear old dad.
“My dad is a big believer in having a five-year plan,” explains Vinny “Vin A.” Adinolfi III, who forms the core of the group with drummer brother Nicky and record label exec and producer-turned-entertainer father Vinny. “The first five-year plan was to start a band and be in all the oldies shows in the New York area. Peter Noone or Tony Orlando or someone like that would play and we’d open that show. And then we went on tour around the country to try to become our own thing, and that was the next five years, headlining.”
The next five-year plan was all about Las Vegas, Vin continues, because his dad was such a fan of the city’s music scene and endless array of stars, the ones he worshipped working in the industry for decades. Guys like Wayne Newton.
After a Bronx Wanderers show in Florida, the Adinolfis met some of the producers who had installed “Menopause The Musical” in Las Vegas and they thought the guys and their band would be a good fit for the Strip. Flash forward to September 2016 when BW opened in the Windows Showroom at Bally’s, sharing the theater with none other than Newton himself.
“I’ve never seen my dad as excited as when he’d get in that elevator every day to go up to the showroom and Wayne Newton would be in the elevator after getting done with his own show,” Vin says. “He was just, ‘Can you believe this? Do you kids even know the gravity of this?’ And it was so cool to hang out with Wayne even if we were starstruck. He’s so cool and down to earth.”
After a couple years at Bally’s, the group built enough momentum to move into a bigger room: BW opened this week at the Mat Franco Theater at the Linq, a 600-seat room in a casino with a lot of new energy. They’re hoping to take advantage of that energy and expand the show’s audience, which has always included different people of different ages and not just folks reliving the glory days of old-fashioned rock and roll.
“My whole goal with Bronx Wanderers is we want anyone from age 8 to 88 to be able to enjoy the music and the show together, to have something for everybody,” Vin says. “It’s just like those of us in the band, we’re all different ages and we all need to be satisfied with the music and what we do. It’s not an easy task but when you do it right, it’s so rewarding.”
The father-and-son trio and their bandmates — Joe Bari, Fernando Tort and David Braun — will continue to storm through classics from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Dion, Queen and Billy Joel, among others, along with more modern hits performed in the signature BW style. The scale will be greater at the Linq.
“I’m super proud of the guys in the band and the show’s entire staff because I wouldn’t be where I am without these people behind us and involved in this project,” Vin says. “If you surround yourself with the right people and they’re all in it with hearts facing the same goal, great things can happen.”
The Bronx Wanderers perform Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Mat Franco Theater at the Linq (3535 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 702-777-2782) and more information can be found at caesars.com/linq.
