Steve MacLeod was in bed reading in his Halifax apartment in the early hours one Monday in August 1980 when he received a phone call.
"I jumped out of bed, I threw my clothes on, jumped in the car and raced through the mostly empty streets of Halifax at 1 on a Monday morning," said MacLeod.When he pulled up to the Misty Moon, which was then located at the corner of Gottingen and Cunard streets, MacLeod could hearHe entered the building, rushed up a long flight of stairs and paid a cover charge of a few dollars.
Local musician Pat Riley was in the band that was playing at The Misty Moon when The Doobie Brothers gave an impromptu set. Riley said the person who did sound for his band, RAM, was also doing sound work at the Metro Centre. That person, George Barry Stevenson, was known as Scrapper, said Riley. "We kept doing the set and I wasn't totally freaked out," said Moon. "I probably should have been, but I just did my thing and the band played."
The Doobies said yes, but there was one problem. There was no keyboard on stage for McDonald to play. For MacLeod, what was unfolding before his eyes felt like something he'd read about in Rolling Stone.This wasn't the first time The Doobie Brothers did something like this. In the group's official biography,, the group talks about sitting in with local bands, noting a time in July 1974 when they did this in Amsterdam.Patrick Simmons, a founding member of the Doobie Brothers, said they'd usually end up at bars after getting recommendations.