While playing a show at the O2 Riz in Manchester on the 13th of June, — band Spotlights had their van broken int0 and many of their personal items stolen. Vocalist Mario Quintero has set up a GoFundMe so fans can donate to the group to allow them to continue on the EU leg of their current tour.
The news was announced in an Instagram post after the gig and stated that though the band had managed 8 years ‘dodging the unfortunate inevitable’ the window to their van was smashed whilst there were playing in Manchester.
The post shows a picture of the broken window along with the caption reading ‘Help us out if you can!’ The band are currently undertaking their first-ever headlining tour in the U.K., which kicked off on the 5th of June, when thieves broke into their van and stole many personal belongings. Fortunately, the band’s equipment was not in the van and therefore they can continue with the rest of the European tour however the luggage of their drummer Chris Enriquez, their sound engineer Terence, and their driver Ian all had their luggage stolen which contained valuable personal belongings like iPads as well and clothes and toiletries.
On the GoFundMe page set up by frontman Mario Quintero detailed that the main priority for the band is make sure those that lost their clothes and toiletries have access to them. The description for the donation page reads ‘We’re extremely lucky that we had all of our equipment with us at the time but Chris, our sound engineer Terence, and our driver/merch Ian all had their luggage stolen. There were laptops, iPads and all their clothes and personal belongings in there.’ The band are also required to ‘pay a hefty deductible to the rental company for insurance’ due to the damages made to the vehicle.
The post ended with a sign off from the three members saying ‘We love you all and can’t thank you enough for your swift action in helping us recover. Eternally grateful, Mario, Sarah and Chris’. The band will continue their tour across Europe into July.
