Wolf Alice closed out the 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust series at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sunday night (29 March), showcasing two new songs as well as many old favourites. See photos from the set, posted by the Teenage Cancer Trust below.
Royal Albert Hall has been hosting concerts in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust since 2000, and this year’s run of gigs was curated by The Cure’s Robert Smith. This week, a stacked line up of acts included English rock band, Elbow, Scottish rock band Mogwai and Irish rock band My Bloody Valentine. The Teenage Cancer Trust website says they are “the only UK charity providing specialised nursing care and expert youth support for young people diagnosed with cancer, ages 13-24.” And last year, the gig series at the Royal Albert Hall raised a record £2.05million.
Ahead of the set Wolf Alice’s lead singer, Ellie Roswell, took to the band’s Instagram to share her personal connection to the Teenage Cancer Trust concert series. Saying, “when I was a kid they used to get all the schools in Camden to sing songs at the royal Albert hall so actually this isn’t my first rodeo.” She also shared that the band would be selling an exclusive t-shirt, the complete proceeds of which would go to the charity Flynne’s barn.
The Standard reported, in their five-star review of the night, that Roswell took the stage saying, “I want to have the best Sunday night ever, and I want you to as well.” The band began with ‘Heavenward,’ a track which hasn’t seen a live performance since 2020. Then, songs from 2025’s ‘The Clearing’ took center stage. The Standard noted ‘White Horses’ was “given fresh, punky life.” Other songs performed from their latest multi-award winning album include ‘Just Two Girls,’ ‘Leaning Against the Wall’ and ‘Midnight Song.’
The set took an acoustic turn as Roswell welcomed violinist James Gavin to the stage. Roswell forewarned the crowd: “We wanted to try something a bit different tonight, so I hope you will be patient with us.” Three more session musicians joined the stage who helped the band perform a traditional Irish folk reel. Roswell joined on the flute and tin whistle, having grown up playing traditional Irish music. The folk musicians stuck around as Wolf Alice debuted their unreleased track, ‘Hit the Sky.’ The track has steady frolic and characteristics of a folk beat. Some lyrics caught by fans include “If the world serves you lemons, you just twist ‘em.”
Wolf Alice performing brand new song «Hit The Sky» live at Royal Albert Hall last night pic.twitter.com/NBxQqniwBm — gherkin rowsell (@gherkinrowsell) March 30, 2026
The band performed another unreleased song with the folk accompianment, ‘Gospel Oak.’ A softer offering with sparing musical accompaniment and tender vocals, the singer was overcome with emotion by the end of the performance, embracing her bandmates.
After, the band ripped through some heavier hitters including ‘Delicious Things’, ‘Lipstick’, and ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’ which propelled the set toward a flourishing, rock-flavored ending.
The set closed out with an organ-backed rendition of ‘The Last Man On Earth’ and the motivating, bubbly ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ which had the entire audience contributing vocals.
Roswell ended the night saying, “Thank you for allowing us to play songs we haven’t played for some time and some we haven’t played forever.”
The weekend also saw Wolf Alice perform as the second-ever musical act on SNL UK. There, the band performed ‘White Horses’ and ‘Leaning on the Wall.’ The band continues their busy 2026 schedule with two Ivor Novello Award nominations (ceremony on 21 May at London’s Grosvenor House), their biggest headline show ever lined up at London’s Finsbury Park (5 July) and a headline spot at the 2026 Green Man Festival in Wales (23 August).
Donations can be made to the Teenage Cancer Trust here or by texting or text ‘RAH10’ to 70085 to give £10.
