Live Review
Wolf Alice close epic Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall concert series
Band of the moment Wolf Alice put in a fittingly epic performance to close the legendary Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall series – at the invitation of guest curator Robert Smith.
From March 23-29, other headliners selected by The Cure legend include elbow, Mogwai, Manic Street Preachers, my bloody valentine and Garbage, as well as a night of Robert Smith’s Comedy Favourites.
Having picked up the Brit Award for Group Of The Year, Wolf Alice were the perfect act to close this year’s concerts. Ellie Rowsell, Joff Oddie, Joel Amey and Theo Ellis commanded the stage, leading out with ‘Heavenward’, ‘White Horses’, ‘Just Two Girls’, as well as a striking version of ‘How Can I Make It Okay’.
“Good evening Royal Albert Hall! This is a beautiful venue and for such an amazing cause. I want you to have the best Sunday night ever,” Rowsell called out to the crowd.
“I want to try something different tonight,” Rowsell said before she ushered four musicians onto the stage who supported the band in a folk music section, including pieces of traditional music and two unreleased original songs, ‘Hit The Sky’ and ‘Gospel Oak’. At one point, Rowsell became choked up but the crowd cheered the band on to finish the song to thunderous applause.
Introduced by the band as a song dedicated to friendship, debut album track ‘Bros’ was phenomenal. Later, ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ off the Mercury Prize-nominated The Clearing, featuring an impressive guitar solo at the tail end of the song. Elsewhere, the British band rolled out a slow-paced start to ‘Last Man on Earth’ as the venue’s organ rang out, backing Rowsell’s raw, emotional vocals.
“Thank you so, so much for coming here tonight. It means so much to us that we got to play this show that we got to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust,” Rowsell told the crowd before a euphoric finale. “Thank you for allowing us to play songs we haven’t played for some time and some we haven’t played forever. This last one is called ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’.”
Wolf Alice CREDIT: John Stead
The night was introduced by BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, who said: “I was blown away to be asked by Robert Smith to compere the show. I saw the email and assumed it was spam! Teenage Cancer Trust is an incredible cause to be involved in so when I was asked it was a no-brainer.
“And Wolf Alice – what a band. I’ve known them for a very long time so to be able to have them here at the Royal Albert Hall – it’s an incredible, emotional night.”
British Turkish singer Nilũfer Yana captivated the audience with charged rock-laden live renditions of her popular songs ‘Method Actor’ and ‘Chase Me’. A semi-stripped back, tender version of ‘Call It Love’ swept through the Royal Albert Hall, against interludes of a jazzy saxophone.
Addressing the crowd, she said: “I’m honoured to be here with Wolf Alice and with Teenage Cancer Trust. Thank you to Robert Smith for having us; I’m a big fan.”
Closing out with her monumental track ‘Midnight Sun’, Yana soaked in the venue, thanking the audience.
“Thank you so much for coming out tonight. It’s an honour to be here tonight before Wolf Alice — and for such a good cause as well,” she said. “Have a great night and enjoy Wolf Alice, it’s going to be an amazing show.”
Celebrated accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegovic played at the venue each night as audiences arrived at Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall.
Ahead of Wolf Alice’s incredible set, Verity Barker, 26, from Bristol, was welcomed to the stage by Jack Saunders, alongside other young people supported by Teenage Cancer Trust. Verity was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer at the age of 17 and has relapsed several times since. A short film showed onstage detailed how she has faced receiving a terminal diagnosis, being told she had just weeks to live and the support she received from Teenage Cancer Trust. A clinical trial has extended her life, and commemorating her 26th birthday, a date Verity said she did not expect to live to see, the Royal Albert Hall crowd celebrated with a moving singalong of Happy Birthday.
Cancer kills more teenagers and young adults in the UK than any other disease, yet cancer care wasn’t made for young people. Teenage Cancer Trust is the only UK charity dedicated to providing specialised nursing care and support for young people with cancer, funding specialist nurses, youth workers and 28 hospital units within the NHS.
Its Royal Albert Hall fundraising concert series was launched and curated by Teenage Cancer Trust Honorary Patron Sir Roger Daltrey, who was knighted for services to charity and music earlier this year, from 2000 to 2025.
This year Teenage Cancer Trust has launched ‘Good Energy’, an art exhibition and print series at the Royal Albert Hall, running from March 18th to April 9th. The collection captures the visceral, shared experience of live music between artist and fan, positioning the “mosh pit” not as a place of chaos, but as a sanctuary of safety and community. The exhibition features 21 limited-edition silk screen prints, chosen by iconic acts including The 1975, Geese, Fontaines DC, Wolf Alice, Yungblud, Nick Cave, Nia Archives, Keane, Sex Pistols feat Frank Carter, The Big Moon, The Snuts, Courteeners, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, Elbow and more. Buy online HERE.
James Ainscough OBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Hall, said: “We’re incredibly proud to have hosted Teenage Cancer Trust’s annual shows for a quarter of a century, supporting this vital and groundbreaking work that improves the lives of young people with cancer every day.”
Jules Worrall, Interim Chief Executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “The Royal Albert Hall gigs are pivotal in helping Teenage Cancer Trust change the lives of young people with cancer.
“For more than 20 years, our Honorary Patron Sir Roger Daltrey curated star-studded lineups year after year. For 2026, that baton has passed to Robert Smith, and wow, what a job he has done.
“Once again, some of the biggest names from across the music and entertainment industry will be making us sing, dance and laugh – but more importantly they will be raising essential funds and shining the brightest spotlight on the needs of young people with cancer. We are so grateful for Robert’s support, to every artist performing and everyone who buys a ticket.
“Here’s to an astonishing week of legendary gigs, and getting young people with cancer the specialised care and support they need.”
Rob Ballantine, Director of S.J.M Concerts, said: “SJM concerts have for over two decades been privileged to pull together the week of fund raising shows for Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall.
“This year working with Cureator Robert Smith has been a real pleasure and we have seen first hand how hard and how diligently he has worked to bring together such a high calibre line up of artists. The respect he commands in the industry is obvious and we would like to add our name to that long list and thank him for such an amazing job. We know the fans will support these shows as they do every year and we hope to raise much needed funds for this amazing charity. Thank you to all the artists and their representatives who have made this happen, we look forward to an incredible week of shows at the Royal Albert Hall next March.”
Jane Ashton, Head of Music and Entertainment at Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “Once again, the music and entertainment industry has come together for a fantastic cause. Money raised from the Royal Albert Hall shows changes lives by funding specialist care and support for young people with cancer. We can’t thank the legend that is Robert Smith enough for all the time and energy he has given to curating this epic line-up.
“The 2025 series raised a wonderful record-breaking £2.05 million, but we’d love to beat it! The urgent need to support young people when they hear the devastating words ‘its cancer’ remains. Thanks to the unwavering support of artists, managers, agents, promoters, crew, and our generous audiences, Teenage Cancer Trust can help them get through cancer, rebuild their life and shape their own future.”
Wolf Alice setlist
Heavenward
White Horses
Just Two Girls
Leaning Against the Wall
How Can I Make It Ok?
The Sofa
Midnight Song
Hit The Sky
(Trad song)
Gospel Oak
(Trad outro)
Delicious Things
Lipstick on the Glass
Bread Butter Tea Sugar
Bros
Swallowtail
Bloom Baby Bloom
The Last Man on Earth
Don’t Delete the Kisses
Nilüfer Yanya setlist
My Method Actor
chase me
Like I Say (I runaway)
Call It love
Binding
Midnight Sun
The shows are also proudly supported by:
Aldi
Aldi is the headline sponsor for this year’s Royal Albert Hall series. The supermarket giant has partnered with Teenage Cancer Trust since 2017 and has raised over £12 million for the charity to date.
Domino’s:
Domino’s has partnered with Teenage Cancer Trust for ten years, has raised £8 million for the charity, and is the official sponsor of the Ultimate Backstage Experience.
American Airlines
American Airlines has generously donated many millions of air miles to support our event series at the Royal Albert Hall.
Royal Albert Hall Show Dates:
Monday, March 23: Elbow and MRCY
Tuesday, March 24: Robert Smith’s Comedy Favourites – Maisie Adam, Bridget Christie, Jack Dee, Andy Hamilton, Dom Joly, Miles Jupp, Athena Kugblenu, Stewart Lee and Dara Ó Briain
Wednesday, March 25: Mogwai, Craven Faults and Annika Kilkenny
Thursday, March 26: Manic Street Preachers and The Joy Formidable
Friday, March 27: my bloody valentine and Chvrches (stripped back performance)
Saturday, March 28: Garbage and Placebo (rare, stripped back performance)
Sunday, March 29: Wolf Alice and Nilüfer Yanya