Lights fade. A yellow box illuminates the center stage. Behind the curtains, someone strikes chords on an acoustic guitar. Then, a drum triplet blasts the curtains open, warping the audience to the 1980s as the instruments pump out the Scorpions’, “Rock you like a hurricane.”

The rock band Bonus performed live on Sept. 23 at the Pierce Theater. The Deree College Ambassadors organized the event.

“We’re going to rock this college,” said Nassos, Bonus’s lead singer and acoustic guitarist, after the opening song. “We’re going to turn this place into a School of Rock.”

Attendance was lower than expected due to poor weather conditions, said college ambassador Aikaterini Papaioannou. The audience, however, applauded the band with shout outs and requests. Students waved lighters and lit cell phone screens as Nassos belted that the “Show must go on!”

Two of the band’s four members – Nassos and solo guitarist and singer Argyris Kiousis – performed several songs at the campus Goody’s on Sept. 16 to encourage students to attend the concert.

“We were so born in the wrong generation,” said senior Thespina Pavlidou, after hearing the band’s rendition of “Roxanne.” Enthused by Bonus’s Goody’s recital, Pavlidou opened her wallet and set aside 10-euros from her weekly cab fare allowance to pay for the actual concert.

The band’s roots grip the blues genre, but now they “just like to play rock because it’s common with everybody,” said Nassos.

Kiousis agreed: “It’s so full of energy.” Nassos said that during the Goody’s performance, “People felt it. It became one big party.”

Bonus came together two summers ago when the band’s members met in Antiparos, explained Kiousis. “We were just groups of friends jammin’ together.” Since then, the band has held a large concert at the Escape Center and smaller concerts at bars like Mike’s Irish Pub.

The American College of Greece caught wind of Bonus when Nassos sent a demo tape to the school. The Cultural Affairs Department passed the tape along to the Deree College Ambassadors. The ambassadors greeted people at the door, sold concert tickets and provided refreshments during the intermission.

Nassos said that he expected the best from the students. “It’s their energy we feed from. But they also feed from ours. We gave it our all and that’s what we got.” His final note to the audience was neither guitar nor lyric. It was simply: “Peace and love. Good night.” And the curtains closed.