Hockey Dad fans were left high-and-dry anticipating an encore during the surf-rock duo’s show at Fortitude Music Hall on Saturday, June 26th.
The Wollongong rockers were on the precipice of the taking the stage for an encore when their tour manager received word from Queensland Health that the band would need to leave the venue immediately to quarantine amid the New South Wales coronavirus outbreak.
“Fuck. This is the heaviest thing we’ve ever experienced,” the band shared on Twitter on Saturday evening. “Due to new COVID restrictions from QLD health, the next two shows can’t go ahead.”
“We had just finished our set and were about to walk back on stage for an encore. We were then told we had to leave the venue immediately and isolate,” they elaborated. “We are absolutely gutted and are lost for words. Our team is working on a solution to fix all of this. Will be back with more updates as they come. Sorry.”
Hockey Dad had travelled to Brisbane from Wollongong on Wednesday, June 23rd — a day prior to the declaration of the Greater Sydney region being classed as a hotspot. The band had obtained a COVID test and self-isolated until they received a negative result, though didn’t anticipate an updated restriction at 6 pm on Saturday evening, back-dating the Greater Sydney region hotspot classification to June 21st.
In a statement, the band delved into the experience of having their tour uprooted by goverment-imposed coronavirus restrictions.
“The hardest part for me was just being on such a high from the show and dropping to such a low in an instant. We felt amazing as we walked off stage,” mused vocalist Billy Fleming. “We really felt like we had pulled off something special. Despite all odds we were finally playing these shows after over a year’s worth of postponement.
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“As the crowd started yelling for us to jump back on for an encore, we got the tap on the shoulder and were escorted away from the stage to receive the bad news. Everything was going so well up until that point. We did everything by the book. And it all just fell apart so quickly. It was really hard for us to comprehend. And it still is.”
Drummer Zach Stephenson added, “The past week leading up to these shows has been probably the most stressful time in my touring history playing in this band. Ever changing goal posts continually keep pressure on artists/venues/crew/promoters/punters to make sure they are doing everything correctly in accordance to state and federal guidelines.”
“Just want to say thank you to our entire crew and everyone at the FMH for their support and understanding during this time. Biggest thanks go out to our fans who bought tickets and held them for over a year and still stick with us through these times. Thank you also to the whole aus music community for your support. The messages we have received already from our peers offering to help out in any way they can has been overwhelming and gives me great hope for the music industry in Aus.”
The band are set to announce rescheduled dates for their cancelled Brisbane shows shortly.
