Echo & The Bunnymen score own goal after Champions League Final scheduling blunder

(Image credit: Daniel Boczarski - Getty)

Echo & The Bunnymen have reversed plans to have their show in Birmingham moved because it clashed with the Champions League Final.

Liverpool will take on Real Madrid in Kiev on May 26 – the same night the band are due to play at the city’s Symphony Hall. And as Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant are Liverpool fans, they announced they were moving the show to May 29 so they could watch the match.

They issued a statement saying: “We’re really sorry but we are going to switch the Birmingham Symphony Hall show on Saturday 26th May. The show will move to Tuesday 29th May all original tickets will be valid for the rescheduled show.

“Both our fans and Liverpool FC are very close to our hearts and after much reflection we decided we couldn’t play a show during the Champions League Final.

“We asked UEFA to change the date of the match but they denied our request.

“We would always want to give 100% when we play but in this instance our heads wouldn't have been in the right place. We sincerely hope you understand.”

But after a backlash from fans, some of whom had already paid for hotels and transport, the Bunnymen reversed their decision and apologised, saying the show would still go ahead on May 26.

The duo said: “We’ve decided to reverse our decision to change the show date following our fans reaction to last night’s social media announcement. 

“Mac and Will are deeply upset about the situation and are really sorry for any unnecessary disappointment caused.”

Find a full list of the band's tour dates on their official site.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.