When “three fifths” of a band’s members are associated with the town where that band’s playing, the locals are appreciative. Such was the case with “The BrokenHearted,” the Tom Petty tribute band that won hearts in an enthusiastic, packed house at the Glove Theatre in Gloversville, Saturday, Feb. 21.
Three of the band’s five members were born in Gloversville or were longtime residents, including veteran musician Matt Donnelly on keyboards, Jim Cappello on bass guitar, and Frank Affintino on drums. Though not from Gloversville, Johnnie Clifford, lead singer and founder of The BrokenHearted, repeatedly praised the city’s efforts at revitalization.
Musically, Clifford, “The Tom Petty Guy,” consistently channeled vocals that eerily – and delightfully—sound much like those of the late Petty. Clifford put the band together in 2007, and it has since evolved into a high-energy crowd pleaser with a dedicated following.
Saturday’s performance was part of the Glove’s “Local 518” series, which features acts from the eastern upstate NY region and closer parts of neighboring New England states. Some of the performers are up-and-comers with abundant talent who are just getting their footing. Others, like The BrokenHearted, bring hefty credits and come back by popular demand.
The Glove Theater itself represents a “comeback,” and it is a local rising phoenix if not yet an overwhelming success story.
Under the management of an all-volunteer board and production crew, the decades-old theater, once a mecca for big Hollywood names and movie premiers, is now a diamond in the rough cosmetically, but has been selling out shows regularly for several months and has been able to book entertainment for almost every weekend. The result is a broader audience and a valuable draw for the old hometown.
“I’m really impressed,” Cifford told the audience Saturday night during a break between songs late in the show. “We wish we could play here again next week, but there are lots of other great bands coming up, and I can see you’ll probably buy up every ticket. It’s good for you and it’s good for Gloversville.”
BrokenHearted led off its first set with “Listen to Her Heart” and segued without interruption to “Don’t Do Me Like That” and an energy-charged “American Girl” before coming up for air and introductions.
The bold sound, replete with strong instrumentals by Affintino, Donnelly, Cappello and relative newcomer Peter Vroman on guitar, geared up again with “Won’t Back Down” before slowing and becoming slightly somber for “Face in the Crowd.” The tempo change allowed Donelly’s keyboard skills in particular to shine.
Clifford promised the crowd a real “rock ‘n’ roll song,” and it came in the form of “You Wreck Me,” as band members nodded and lunged to the intensity of the rhythms, and a few people in the aisles stood to move to the strong beat. By the end of the next number, “You Got Lucky,” a dozen or more audience members were dancing in the orchestra pit area.
Dozens more chimed in “Hey!” at the appropriate moments during “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” for which Clifford donned a signature top hat to the crowd’s delight.
During the intermission which followed, Gloversville-born bass guitarist Cappello drew the winning 50-50 ticket before the band came back on stage and Clifford asked the audience to do him “a favor. “Come on down here [to the dance area],” he said. “I can see ya, but I can’t see ya [clearly].
In response, roughly 20 audience members streamed down the aisles to dance and sway to “Refugee” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” during which Clifford played a convincing Petty-like harmonica, and some synthesized sound was woven into the harmonies.
The band harked back to Petty’s Traveling Wilburys era with an excellent rendition of “Handle With Care,” paying tribute not only to Petty but to the late, great George Harrison and Roy Orbison. Clifford handled Harrison’s verses while Donnelly provided a dead ringer for Orbison’s higher bridges.
Perhaps some of the most interesting musical interactions of the show came next with “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” a haunting melody to which several band members contributed vocal harmonies, Clifford played interludes on harmonica, and multi-layered instrumentals blended, climaxing in long electric guitar riffs. Toward the end of the number, Clifford’s body bobbed in rhythm as his guitar seemed to converse with the drums.
Unbeknownst to the audience, the sixteenth tune in the lineup was to be a tribute to one of the band members within the larger homage to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. At the beginning of the number, the lights lowered and the backdrop changed to a slide show of Donnelly at the keyboards superimposed on exploding fireworks. Two BrokenHearted band members left the stage briefly while others sat down during a lengthy piano solo by Donnelly.
As Clifford returned to the stage wearing a white shirt, he beckoned audience members to come forward again, noting, “I’ve got a story to tell you; I need your help on this… It’s about Matt Donnelly over here,” he said. “He’s been playing with us since 2017, and this is his last show with us tonight. He’s gonna move on to play with The Refrigerators. We’ve been lucky to have him.”
Clifford presented a large photo of Donnelly and himself performing together, then launched into singing “Learning to Fly,” which Donnelly had begun minutes earlier instrumentally.
“I’m getting a little choked up,” Clifford said.
Crowd favorites “Free Fallin’,” Here Comes My Girl,” and “The Waiting” followed.
Just when the band seemed to be standing a bit statically in “The Waiting,” band members turned up the action with Clifford moving to the music, thrusting a hand in the air and grapevining around the stage. He ratcheted his guitar up and down, ultimately playing at neck level.
“Breakdown” kept up the momentum with sultry guitar playing that built into a complex interweaving of guitar, bass and a strong drum beat before the passionate chorus, “Break down.”
The number wended into a jazzy keyboard interlude overlaid with guitars and periods of a slow drum beat and repeated background rhythm during which Clifford spoke the lyrics, “It’s all right,” but ticked off a litany of not-so-all right situations. The tune really showcased Vroman’s crying guitar strains in between Clifford’s monologues.
BrokenHearted’s second set closed with a loud, fast entrance into “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” where Clifford jammed with Vroman on guitar then sat briefly on the stage steps strumming his guitar vertically. Cappello almost hypnotically burnt up the strings on the bass guitar as more than 30 people threatened dance space capacity in the orchestra pit. The high-powered showmanship ended with Clifford twisting his upper body and guitar with a flourish.
Taking a deep breath, Clifford introduced the encore number, “I Need to Know” with an amusing, time-saving bit as the band’s play time approached two and three quarters hours.
“There’s not enough time to play all these songs,” he said. “This is the point where we’d walk off, knowing full well we’re going to play another song, so we’re just going to stand up here and play it!”
“This may be the first Tom Petty song you ever heard,” he added, and indeed the rhythms were different than that of many of the songs performed during the show and representing the evolution of Petty’s music.
All in all, despite a few brief and minor feedback issues, BrokenHearted left no one heart-broken, instead producing a skilled, spirited and accurate portrayal of Petty’s repertoire in a community-run theatre working hard to revive the glory of its early years.
The BrokenHearted – The Glove Theatre, Gloversville, NY – Sunday, Feb. 21, 2026
Set 1: Listen to Her Heart, Don’t Do Me Like That, American Girl, Won’t Back Down, Face in the Crowd, Change of Heart, You Wreck Me, Louisiana Rain, Yer So Bad, You Got Lucky, Don’t Come Around Here No More
Set 2: Refugee, You Don’t Know How It Feels, Handle with Care, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, Learning to Fly, Free Fallin’, Here Comes My Girl, The Waiting, Breakdown, Runnin’ Down a Dream, I Need to Know
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