Elbow have kicked off Robert Smith’s Teenage Cancer Trust’s Royal Albert Hall gig series – see footage below.
The Cure frontman has stepped into the shoes of The Who’s Roger Daltrey this year, curating the long-running series of live shows in support of the charity, and the opening night of the run was on Monday (March 23), with Elbow playing their first ever show at the venue.
They played a career-spanning set, reaching back to ‘Station Approach’ and ‘Great Expectations’ from 2005’s ‘Leaders Of The Free World’ through to a quartet of songs from their most recent album, 2024’s ‘Audio Vertigo’.
After the show, the band wrote on Instagram: “Huge thank you for an incredible evening @teenage_cancer in the iconic @royalalbertall. Proud to support your work and share the stage with @mrcy.mrcy.mrcy. Thank you for having us @robertsmith. Love elbow x”
Check out footage from the show here:
Ahead of the show, frontman Guy Garvey spoke to Metro, sharing an “amazing compliment” that the band once received from Smith.
“I remember when we were in the studio doing our second album, which was stereotypically difficult,” he recalled. “It’s one of those things where you spent 10 years trying to get the album off the floor, and then you do, and then the second one has got to be as good or better. It’s a lot of pressure.”
“Robert Smith was in a magazine article in Q on what he was listening to. He said he was listening to Elbow, and that it was like learning a new language, which was just the most amazing compliment I think we’ve ever had.”
“To get the nod from somebody respected as much as Robert Smith can see through the dark tea-times of the soul,” he added.
‘Things I’ve Been Telling Myself For Years’
‘Lovers’ Leap’
‘The Bones Of You’
‘Mirrorball’
‘Empires’
‘Fly Boy Blue / Lunette’
‘Kindling’
‘Her To The Earth’
‘Balu’
‘Great Expectations’
‘The Seldom Seen Kid’
‘The Birds’
‘Lippy Kids’
‘My Sad Captains’
‘Magnificent (She Says)’
‘Grounds For Divorce’
‘Station Approach’
‘One Day Like This’
Smith’s stacked Teenage Cancer Trust run continues this week with an all-star comedy line-up tonight (March 24), with Mogwai (25), Manic Street Preachers (26), My Bloody Valentine (27), Garbage and Placebo (28) and Wolf Alice (29) still to come. Find any remaining tickets here.
When he announced the line-up, Smith saif: “Teenage Cancer Trust does absolutely amazing work, and l am very proud they asked me to be ‘Cureator’ of their March 2026 concerts at the RAH. I wanted to make it a truly unforgettable, unmissable week – a run of shows to dream about – and I am so grateful to all the artists who accepted my invitation to perform.
“These will be very special events; every band, both headliners and special guests, and every comedian too, is either legendary or at the top of their game… indeed in most cases, they are both! It is going to be a fabulous seven nights, and I can hardly wait to experience it all. See you there!”
The post Watch Elbow kick off Robert Smith’s Teenage Cancer Trust gig series at Royal Albert Hall as Guy Garvey reveals The Cure frontman once “gave us the most amazing compliment ever” appeared first on NME.
