Wolf Alice closed out the 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust live series at London’s Royal Albert Hall, bringing unreleased songs, live debuts and rarities to an emotional performance.
READ MORE: Wolf Alice are a band in constant evolution: “Not resting on your laurels is really exciting”
This year, the run of gigs was curated by The Cure’s Robert Smith, and featured a stacked line-up of acts. The week was kicked off by Elbow before huge sets from the likes of Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine, with Manic Street Preachers covering The Cure’s ‘Close To Me‘ in the icon’s honour and Chvrches debuting new song ‘Conman‘. The penultimate night saw Placebo deliver a set of fan favourites at their first performance in two years before Garbage covered The Cure’s ‘Lovesong‘ during an emotional and politically-charged show.
The shows were in aid of supporting young people who have been diagnosed with cancer, and last year set a record with £2.05million raised.
After a support set from Nilüfer Yanya, a group of young people who have been helped by Teenage Cancer Trust were brought out on stage, led by 26-year-old Verity Barker, who was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer at 17, and given weeks to live. On stage, she celebrated reaching her golden birthday, after turning 26 on March 26, with the crowd singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.
Nilüfer Yanya credit: John Stead
That emotional moment set the tone for the rest of the night as Wolf Alice delivered a poignant and moving performance in the prestigious venue. At one point towards the end of the set, bassist Theo Ellis told the crowd about “how much I want to cry during this gig”. “It must be this gaff,” he quipped. “It’s very nice.”
Wolf Alice’s set delivered rarities and unreleased songs, kicking off immediately with ‘Heavenward’ – the first outing for the ‘Visions Of A Life’ track since 2020. After ‘Midnight Song’, which saw them joined by violinist James Gavin, frontwoman Ellie Rowsell announced: “We wanted to try something a bit different tonight, so I hope you will be patient with us.”
Three more folk musicians joined the band onstage to debut two unreleased songs and perform an Irish trad song. At points, Rowsell, who grew up playing traditional Irish music, joined in on flute and tin whistle. ‘Hit The Sky’ was premiered first, with the track propelled by a steady stomp as Rowsell sang: “If the world serves you lemons, you just twist ‘em”. The softer, stirring ‘Gospel Oak’ soon followed, with the singer overcome by emotion midway through.
Later, drummer Joel Amey took the lead for the second time of the night, following ‘The Clearing’’s ‘White Horses’, performing ‘Swallowtail’ live for the first time since 2016. As the encore section of the night began, Rowsell returned to the stage with live pianist Ryan Malcolm to perform ‘The Last Man On Earth’, accompanied by the Royal Albert Hall’s Grand Organ for a stripped back version of the track.
Across the night, Wolf Alice also gave stunning renditions of tracks from ‘The Clearing’ and 2021’s ‘Blue Weekend’, including ‘Leaning Against The Wall’ and ‘How Can I Make It OK?’. During ‘The Sofa’, Rowsell strode off stage and performed a verse of the song from the seats in the stalls, kicking her feet up on the chairs in front of her.
“Thank you so much for buying a ticket,” Rowsell told the audience, as Ellis, Amey and guitarist Joff Oddie returned to the stage ready for the final song. “It means so much to us that we got to play this show, to play this venue, to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust. Thank you to Robert Smith and thank you for allowing us to play some songs we haven’t played in a long time and some we haven’t played ever.”
The band then closed out the set with ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’, the venue lights sparkling off the giant disco ball hung above the crowd, as everyone sang along in unison.
Wolf Alice credit: John Stead
Wolf Alice played:
‘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’
Visit here to donate to Teenage Cancer Trust, or text ‘RAH10’ to 70085 to give £10.
Wolf Alice’s performance as part of the series came the day after they appeared as the musical guest on SNL UK. The band were the second to perform on the new, British version of the long-running US sketch show, and played ‘White Horses’ and ‘Leaning Against The Wall’ during the episode.
Last week, the band were also announced as nominees at this year’s Ivor Novello awards. ‘The Clearing’ has been shortlisted for Best Album, while ‘The Sofa’ is in the running for Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the awards, which honour the craft of songwriting. The 2026 ceremony will take place at London’s Grosvenor House on May 21.
The four-piece started 2026 in big fashion, winning Best Group at the BRITs in February, and performing at the Trans Mission concert at OVO Arena Wembley earlier this month. Later this year, they will play their biggest headline show at London’s Finsbury Park, before headlining this year’s Green Man Festival in Wales.
The post Wolf Alice close out 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust series with unreleased songs and rarities at emotional Royal Albert Hall gig appeared first on NME.
