Halifax-based band Port Cities played a special concert Wednesday evening for a Riverview, N.B. teen whose social media campaign has stretched across the world.
The surprise concert was held at a riverfront patio in Riverview where the band played a few songs for their longtime fan Becca Schofield, who has been battling terminal brain cancer.
READ MORE: New Brunswick legislature passes motion to create ‘Becca Schofield Day’
Schofield started a campaign late in 2016 asking people to perform acts of kindness and post them to social media using the hashtag #BeccaToldMeTo. The campaign has reached around the world, with people performing acts from as far as Australia.
Band member Carleton Stone said he was recently contacted by a friend who organizes the New Glasgow Riverfront Jubilee, Carlton Munroe.
“[He] sent us a video last week … of him and Becca kind of explaining what a big fan of our band she was,” Stone told Global News. “So he was basically just reaching out to see if we would send her a signed CD or write her a note to kind of lift her spirits.”
Instead, the band spoke with their management and decided since it was in the Moncton area, they’d instead go and sing some songs for her.
Stone said Schofield’s “honesty” in her message is what prompted them to set up the impromptu performance.
READ MORE: Moncton-area firefighters, RCMP to face off in support of #BeccaToldMeTo
“Just kind of how optimistic she is being such a young woman and such a kind of unfortunate situation,” he said. “When we heard her story, we were like, ‘Whatever we can do to help her, she’s helped so many people,’ so kind of give her a little something to look forward to.”
Schofield said the concert was unexpected.
“Shock and enjoyment and happiness,” she said. “It was so cool to come here and have this be a surprise and it was the perfect day for it.
“The fact that they would do this just so that they could come down and perform for me and my family, it’s great.”
Schofield and her family lined one side of the gazebo as the band played.
Her dad, Darren, said he got the call about the concert Monday morning and was told they could come down Wednesday if they were available.
Asked about everything that has happened in the past few months — the New Brunswick legislature has named a day after Schofield and she has received recognition by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to name a few — the concert was “pretty special.”
“For the band to take time out of their schedule — I mean, they’re playing a show tomorrow in Halifax — they came up here to do this just for Becca, that’s pretty special,” he said.
The teen said she first found out about Port Cities when her dad went to a benefit for his friend in February where the group performed. When he returned home, he told her about the band and suggested she listen to the band, which she did.
One song she requested of the band on Wednesday was Astronaut, which she said wasn’t played at the benefit but now holds a special connection for her and her father.
“I found that one and I showed it to my dad and he loved it and I downloaded it onto my iPad and then every time we were in the car and I would be playing my music, dad would just go, ‘Hey, play Astronaut,'” Schofield said.
“So I thought it was pretty appropriate having all my family here and choosing to listen to Astronaut with them, especially with my dad, it was a special song.”
The band finished the concert by presenting Schofield with a signed guitar, which Schofield responded with a “Wow”, as well as a CD of their music.
—With files from Shelley Steeves, Global News
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