It’s a long way to the top, but AC/DC tribute band Bonfire has reached it with an authentic look and signature sound.
Bonfire will be bringing its hard-rock show of AC/DC’s early music to the ACT Arts Centre in Maple Ridge.
The band has been selling out shows across the United States, including at San Diego’s House of Blues.
In 2012, the band received a nomination for Best Tribute Band at the L.A. Music Awards.
In 2016, lead singer Sean Mulvihill auditioned to replace AC/DC’s lead singer after Brian Johnson stepped down due to hearing loss, and only lost out to Axel Rose, of Guns N’ Roses.
Mulvihill is an original member of Bonfire, from Los Angeles, and has been with the group 17 years.
“I grew up with this music. I graduated high school in 1983. They were at the height of their powers in the early ’80s,” said Mulvihill, who loves the power and energy of the AC/DC.
“The song writing is smart and clever,” Mulvihill added.
“They were big fans of Chuck Barry and so was I. It was that really heavy blues riff, rock and roll music is just what I’ve always liked and that’s what they liked.”
Bonfire will be starting the night out with a set list including the big hits like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, TNT, Highway to Hell and It’s A Long Way To The Top. But the concert will depend on the audience.
“If we play Up To My Neck In You and the people go crazy, then we’ll realize they might want to hear some B-sides and we’ll dip into that,” said the artist.
The band will also be performing songs off of the Back in Black album, despite the fact they are a Bon Scott tribute band.
“We don’t think it’s a sellout because that album was written as a tribute to Bon,” explained Mulvihill.
“But, we won’t go to anything after that. We won’t play Thunderstruck or For Those About to Rock or any of the new stuff,” he said.
They will play You Shook Me All Night Long.
“It’s a definite crowd pleaser,” he added.
Bonfire has been to Wales, Honduras and Mexico, and Mulvihill has personally been to Germany as Bon Scott.
He is expecting that the seats in the ACT will not even be used as the crowd won’t even have a chance to sit down once the concert starts.
“There are lots of different ways to perform a tribute to a band and the way we do it, we look a little bit like them, we sound quite a bit like them, but mostly we are trying to capture the energy that they had when they were just starting out in the late ’70s,” said Mulvihill.
A tribute
Bonfire – A Tribute to the music of AC/DC takes place Jan. 27 at the ACT Arts Centre, 11944 Haney Place in Maple Ridge.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32.50 and can be purchased at the ACT Arts Centre box office, by phone at 604-476-2787 or at theactmapleridge.org.