Fireball Rainbow, a band for girls living with autism, received some rocking news Tuesday night. Thanks to an anonymous donor the band is going to Billie Eilish’s sold-out show at the Bell Centre in February.
“I’m so excited,” said band member Kayla Patak. “I’m gonna dance the night away and I’m gonna have so much fun.”
Music therapist Alison Usher-Jones shared the good news with the girls at their weekly session on Dec. 14. The six members present were all smiles, cheering and one even jumped up in the air in celebration.
Then they danced around the music therapy room to none other than their favourite artist, Billie Eilish.
“I wanna say thank you so much and whoever you are, you’re amazing and you’re kind,” said Patak.
Usher-Jones said the donor, who is choosing to stay anonymous, was one of several people who contacted her following the Global News story about their plea to get tickets to the sold-out show.
“I was overwhelmed, first of all, from how many people reached out. And then when I got the news from this anonymous person who’s made this donation, I literally thought it must have been a scam because it was that amazing,” said Usher-Jones.
Fireball Rainbow is getting twelve tickets, two more than they initially asked for. This way all girls are accommodated, including the teenagers who need extra supervision.
The band run by Westmount Music Therapy is a program for girls with autism to express their emotions and connect with one another.
The friend group has been together for five years and now that they are teenagers they can’t get enough of 19-year-old Billie Eilish. They dance to her songs at the end of every session and they look up to her as a role model because she shows them that being different is OK.
“This will be the best night of their lives,” said Usher-Jones.