The All-American Rejects have staked their claim for 2026’s weirdest show cancellation; they've been forced to postpone a recent Michigan gig after their gear was accidentally shipped to the other side of the country.
The beloved pop-punk band, which last year played a house show with Grace Bowers, had no choice but to reschedule a performance in Battle Creek, originally set for Thursday, April 2, following a rather catastrophic logistical faux pas.
“Unfortunately, the company that handles all our equipment has completely boned us,” the band wrote, matter-of-factly, on Facebook. “All of our instruments and gear were mistakenly shipped across the country on another band's truck to the wrong location last night, and we have literally nothing to play.
“It's the last thing we would want to announce, especially after our band and crew traveled over 12 hours to get here the night before.”
The show has now been moved to November 7, and hopefully, the band can see the funny side of it by then.
It’s not the first time that bands have been flummoxed by shipping errors. Indie legend Johnny Marr can attest to that, after UPS lost his guitars days before his tour kicked off in September.
Last year, a shipment of Reverend Guitars was stolen in transit, while in late 2024, Primus raided a local Guitar Center to play a festival show after their gear didn't show up – and the tags were still on the instruments they played.
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Incredibly, when Steve Vai's gear was lost in transit during last year's BEAT tour, his tech, Doug MacArthur, sourced a full live rig in just four hours.
Elsewhere, Bass Player has caught up with the man who found Paul McCartney's long-lost Beatles bass. The historic Höfner violin bass was found in an English attic 51 years after it disappeared, prompting a crack team – now tasked with finding the Back to the Future guitar – to help track it down.
