Perseverance, it’s something we should all live by. Whether it’s a small form or a big form of it, everyone should have a no-quit mentality.
With COVID, lots of performances were halted worldwide, but legendary BC punk band D.O.A wasn’t going to be halted again. Now, they were supposed to play a pair of events this past weekend to celebrate and cherish the 40th anniversary of their seminal album “Hardcore ’81. On Friday night, they were due to play in Hope, which was then to be followed by a huge homecoming show and performance at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver the next day; a very manageable drive west on the highway, in regular times.
The head man of the band, Joe Keithley said that unless there’s a giant mudslide, it’s about an hour and a half drive. Their show in Hope, where lots of people were stranded because of flooding, got cancelled, but the Vancouver show was still on.
Their only apparent issue was getting there. Their drummer Paddy Duddy and bass guitarist Mike Hodsall live hours away in Nelson, BC. They kept on waiting for news that routes would finally reopen so that they could drive into Vancouver.
never seen flooding like this in the Vancouver area. My dad's friend had to be flown by a helicopter to get to his job at a hospital. This is highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack pic.twitter.com/RqWbm9tg3U
— Gerrit De Vynck (@GerritD) November 16, 2021
By late in the week, it became obvious that flying would have to be their best option. The group felt it had no other option but to fork out a large amount of money for the flights, almost $2000 for the two band members. This didn’t solve the problem of them getting their instruments to Vancouver from Nelson, however.
Thankfully, the band was able to borrow equipment from the opening acts of the event. The groups said that they’re all like one big family. They made it to the venue late Saturday afternoon, did a quick soundcheck, and performed all night long.
If that isn’t perseverance, then I don’t know what is.