Bonfire plays AC/DC songs at Infinity

The AD/DC tribute band Bonfire played at Pala Casino’s Infinity nightclub March 31.

The concert lasted just over two hours and consisted of 25 songs from various AC/DC albums. Although the band members portrayed the AC/DC lineup from June 1977 to February 1980, during which time AC/DC recorded the albums “Powerage” and “Highway to Hell,” Bonfire’s songs included those from previous and subsequent AC/DC albums.

“That’s what this band’s all about, keeping the music of AC/DC around,” said lead singer Sean Mulhall, who portrays Bon Scott during Bonfire performances.

It was Scott’s death which ended the lineup of Scott, lead guitar player Angus Young (portrayed by Diego Russo), rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young (whose Bonfire counterpart is Sean Colligan), drummer Paul Rudd (matched by Forrest Everett in Bonfire performances), and bassist Cliff Williams (Bonfire’s equivalent is James Pulli). Scott was known for his parties which eventually led to his death after a night of drinking. “He was also a great songwriter,” Mulhall said.

Scott himself was born in Scotland and moved to Australia when he was six years old, and even though Mulhall is originally from Michigan his portrayal included Scott’s Australian accent. Mulhall is the only remaining original member of Bonfire, which was founded 10 years ago. Russo replaced the original Angus Young impersonator in late 2011; Everett has been in the band seven years; Pulli has spent six years with Bonfire, and Colligan has portrayed Malcolm Young for the past five years. The band members all live in Southern California.

Angus Young is known for his schoolboy outfit - a jacket and tie with short pants and sneakers. During Bonfire’s seventh song, “Bad Boy Boogie,” Russo performed a striptease and kept everything except his shorts off through the remainder of the concert. Russo also twice went throughout the audience while he was playing.

Although the seats at Infinity were sparsely occupied, the dance floor was approximately half-full at the start of the concert. The dance floor was at capacity when Bonfire performed “Back in Black,” the 10th song of the night, and was overflowing during the final two pre-encore songs, “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Highway to Hell.”

The band’s first encore song was “Big Balls,” in which Mulhall switched the second and third stanzas. Bonfire, which began the performance with “Let There Be Rock,” concluded the concert with “Problem Child.”

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