BBC addresses fury after legendary band’s final ever show wasn’t filmed at Glastonbury

The BBC has responded to upset fans of The Searchers after at-home Glastonbury viewers were unable to stream their final ever gig.

The Liverpool-based rock group, which grew to fame in the 60s with hits like their cover of Sweets for My Sweet and Goodbye My Love, wrapped up a successful seven-decade-long career at this year’s Worthy Farm festival.

Formed by Mike Pender and John McNally, the music group is known as the ‘longest running band in pop history’.

The band – also made up of Frank Allen, Spencer James, and Richie Burns – performed on the Acoustic Stage on June 27 with a packed audience, including Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.

However, for longtime fans unable to make it to the five-day music event, many expressed their anger over the set not being available to livestream or catch up on via the BBC.

‘Yesterday musical history was made at Glastonbury when the legendary Searchers played their final ever gig. They are pop aristocracy. Yet the BBC didn’t record, show or stream it,’ Gerry Hassan wrote on X.

‘I spent 7 hrs scrolling through Glasto footage searching for the Searchers. Not shown after all the publicity,’ pembox17 added.

‘The Searchers were great but BBC didn’t show them,’ roy clough echoed.

‘Gutted BBC couldn’t be bothered to record or broadcast the Searchers at Glastonbury. They were top of my to see list!’ Christine Monk said.

‘BBC, so many fans are gutted we didn’t get to see The Searchers‘ final ever performance at Glastonbury. Please air the Acoustic Stage set or let us know why it wasn’t shown. A legendary farewell like this deserves to be seen,’ Richard Brown added.

A BBC spokesperson shared a statement explaining the absence of the highly-anticpated gig on iPlayer.

‘We’ve celebrated The Searchers on the BBC with interviews with the band but unfortunately, the Acoustic Stage is an area we haven’t been able to have cameras in throughout the years.’

Ahead of their Glastonbury debut which also doubled as their farewell gig, McNally wrote: ‘A Glastonbury debut at 83, can anyone top that? I don’t think life gets any better, does it?

‘There will be a few nerves, but in a good way, and we’ll be nicely warmed up from our shows in June. We can’t wait to see our fans again for this incredible final farewell.’

Meanwhile, bassist and singer Allen added: ‘I have played shows across the world with The Searchers for over 60 years; Glastonbury has always been an ambition that has eluded us – until now.

‘The Searchers are finally performing at the greatest music festival of them all.

‘What a way to round off a tour and a career. I can’t wait to get up on stage and give our fans one final blast.’

In an interview with BBC’s Katie Razzall, Allen explained why the group had decided to finally retire.

‘We’ve tried to stop four times so far… we tried to stop in 2019 basically because the fun had gone out of the whole thing and we all needed a rest, certainly from each other.

‘We thought that was it but then after four years we’d all settled down and calmed ourselves and we were talking into doing a thank you tour which turned out to be one of the most joyous things we’ve ever done,’ he explained.

After being convinced to carry on touring for a while longer, they got ready to lay the mics down once more when an offer they couldn’t refuse came in – playing Glastonbury.

Reflecting on the ’emotional’ end to their 68-year-long career, Allen added: ‘We’re saying goodbye to each other at the end, not just the crowd.’

This year’s BBC Glastonbury coverage has been under scrutiny for more than one reason.

Earlier this week, the national broadcaster released a statement after it failed to pull the livestream for group Bob Vylan who ended their set with a series of chants including ‘free Palestine’ and ‘death to the IDF’.

The duo’s performance was just ahead of Irish rap group Kneecap whose set was pre-emptively pulled from the BBC livestream but an edited version is available to watch on catch-up.

Both performances are now under UK police investigation.

Glastonbury 2025 performances are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.

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