BY BROCK RADKE
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
Consisting of father Vinny Adinolfi, his sons Nicky and Vin and their high-energy backing band, the Bronx Wanderers trekked from New York to Las Vegas in 2016 and immediately began building a reputation for one of the most rollicking rock shows on the Strip. Covering everything and everyone from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons to Bruno Mars, BW’s 90-minute sensation outgrew its first Vegas home at Bally’s and has relocated to The Linq, taking the stage at the Mat Franco Theater six nights a week. Las Vegas Magazine's Brock Radke caught up with singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vinny “Vin A.” Adinolfi III to find out where this unique, genre- and era-spanning act is going from here.
You’ve been performing in Las Vegas for more than two years, but how long have the Bronx Wanderers been the thing for you?
Since birth! I’m just kidding. The Bronx Wanderers started in 2006 with my brother and I and my dad and his friends. He got a bunch of cool people from the neighborhood to do the band with us, guys from the Earls and the Regents and the Tokens. My brother and I were the only two young dudes. We started progressing and were eventually playing 250 dates a year, just always on the road, and the guys never got to see their families where we were lucky because we were with our family. So they had to leave. But I told my dad, don’t worry about it, Nicky and I had our own band. So now it was a 50-year-old musician going on the road with a bunch of 18-year-olds and everybody loved it.
And you eventually decided you wanted to do a show in Las Vegas. Why was that so important?
Mainly it was for my dad. I was young and had no idea of the whole Vegas thing, but I liked the idea of having people come to you as opposed to you going to them. Dad was a record executive for 30 years and he looked up to Wayne Newton and the Rat Pack and Tom Jones and it was his dream to be one of those guys. We had no idea it would work out. I’d ever seen my dad so excited as when he’d get on that elevator at Bally’s every day and Wayne Newton was in the same elevator going to do his show. He was just, “Can you believe this? Do you kids even know the gravity of this?”
You just moved the show into the larger Mat Franco Theater at The Linq. It’s a big move.
We’re excited and nervous about it. The team (at The Linq) told us, “Just do what you’re doing. You’ve earned this.” And Mat Franco couldn’t have been cooler. That kind of support has been a calming force. And we’re adding a bunch of new stuff to the show, new screens, new costumes and adding a lot of new moments to the show. We can’t wait for people to see this new installment.
There’s so much energy at that property right now. Does the excitement from other new features at the Linq carry over to you guys?
Oh yeah. They just added that new zipline (The FlyLinq) and it’s bringing a ton of people and there’s a new convention center under construction. It’s a really cool location right between Harrah’s and the Flamingo which is kind of our demo, but we’ve got a bunch of young guys in the band and we’re hoping more young people will come to the show. My whole goal with Bronx Wanderers is to get an age group from 8 to 88, to have something for everybody. It’s not an easy task but when you do it right, it’s so rewarding.
What about adapting off the stage? Do you feel you’ve become a real local Las Vegan?
I immediately fell in love with Las Vegas because there’s so much going on musically. It’s not like anywhere else. But I’ve definitely been able to do some fun stuff when I have time. I really like going to Giada and having a nice glass of wine. I’m pretty tight with Anthony Cools and he brought me to Axe Monkeys (an indoor axe throwing range). One of my favorite things out here is Musashi, this really cool (teppanyaki) restaurant that’s open until 4 a.m. This town is a lot like New York where everything is open 24/7, it’s just a lot more chill. New York has that anxious vibe where people are rushing around even when they don’t need to be somewhere.
