Nanaimo resident Sam Hackett (left) performing live with Goo Goo Dolls singer John Rzeznik during the Thursday, March 19 show in Victoria. (Image Credit: Submitted/Sam Hackett)

By Jordan Davidson

living a dream

VIDEO: ‘Gifting me these moments:’ Nanaimo woman performs live with Goo Goo Dolls

Mar 24, 2026 | 5:30 AM

NANAIMO — A local woman recently had the thrill of a lifetime after being invited on-stage to perform with one of her favourite bands.

Sam Hackett, 36, was plucked out of the audience and performed The Goo Goo Dolls’ hit song ‘Name’ live with the band, during their Thursday, March 19, concert in Victoria in front of 7,000 fans.

“I can’t believe it,” Hackett told NanaimoNewsNOW, still riding the high a few days after the concert, performing next to and with frontman John Rzeznik. “It was just an incredible moment, and I was amazed with the generosity of Johnny and the band…he was just giving me these moments, gifting me these moments.”

Hackett, an engineer living in Nanaimo for the last decade, played guitar in high school but hadn’t picked it up in some time, but regained the spark after buying tickets to the show.

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She had seen members of the audience brought on stage to perform with The Goo Goo Dolls before and decided to try to turn her dream into reality, practicing the song for about two months prior.

“I would say I engineered it a little bit. I studied what guitars he used for that song, when it would be in the set list, all of that, so I kind of just prepared as much as I could for the chance that it would happen.”

When frontman Rzeznik reached for the right instrument, Hackett and her friends brought out their signs to get his attention, and it paid off.

Hackett waited to bring out her signs until the moment the Goo Goo Dolls were about to perform ‘Name’, her song of choice. (Image Credit: Submitted/Sam Hackett)

“I think I yelled out something like, ‘Johnny, I want to play Name!’ just to get his attention, and he read the signs. Before we even went into the building, I just knew I was going to get up there, which is kind of crazy to think. Especially when he started interacting with us, I was like ‘alright I’m getting up.'”

She walked toward the stage and was handed a guitar by a crew member, and armed with months of practice, encouragement from her friends and musician brother, Hackett had her moment in the spotlight.

She played along for the entire song and even sang a few bars, prompting Rzeznik to jokingly tell her, “Don’t play better than me!”

Following her performance, Hackett returned to her friends in the crowd to enjoy the rest of the show, with fellow audience members approaching her after to let her know what a special moment it was.

“People with tears in their eyes saying, ‘that was so inspiring, thank you so much’. It really touched people. For me, it was just a dream and a challenge for me, and something to work towards and something I just had to believe in. But the actual moment ended up being so much more than that. Pretty special.”

Months of preparation and a bit of luck paid off for Hackett. (Image Credit: Submitted/Sam Hackett)

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