Musicians often describe performing to a crowd as a euphoric experience, so the comedown must have been hard when Tom Day realised the the money earned from his weekend of gigs had been stolen after his Busselton show.
As Mr Day was travelling between the venue and the his car to pack up his equipment, someone slipped into his vehicle, stole his money, and left before Mr Day knew what had happened.
“I was shocked when I went to get my wallet and found it empty – at first I thought perhaps I’d left my earnings somewhere else,” he said.
“But as I searched it became apparent my money had been stolen."
After his faith in humanity took such a devastating blow so was it restored after the community rallied together to raise one thousand dollars to relieve the pressure on Mr Day to find money for rent and food as he wrote on his Facebook.
“Dear person who broke into my bus and stole all of my gig and cd sales money from the weekend. I hope you had to feed your starving children because that was my rent and food for the week,” the post read.
Bunbury’s Kelsie Miller had just days before been watching Mr Day perform at Good Nights and when she heard the news she petitioned her fan database to help support Mr Day.
“This happens a lot to musicians travelling around in a bus, and it’s a shame because they’re already trying hard to make it in a tough business so it’s an unnecessary setback,” Ms Miller said.
“They don’t get a regular pay cheque so they rely on ticket sales and merchandise to make ends meet.
Mr Day said he couldn’t be more grateful to the people who donated their money to support him.
“I’m humbled by how strong the community is and I’ll be looking for ways I can help people in need and pay back the community for all they’ve done for me.”
Blayde Grzelka
Journalist for the Bunbury Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
Journalist for the Bunbury Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
