Robert Smith’s Cure-atorship of this year’s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs began at the Royal Albert Hall last night with Elbow delivering a rousing, often transcendent show which truly - to use a distinctly un-rock n roll term - ‘fulfilled the brief’.
This lauded annual series - now under the charge of different guest curators each year, with Smith the first - are always emotive occasions, given the importance of the work the charity does, and how much the teenagers themselves are always a part of proceedings in video segments and on stage; at this show, compere Sean Keaveny (still much missed on BBC 6Music) introduced a group of teens who were given a huge reception for their testimonies to the support provided to them and their families by their charities. In a show that was live-streamed - if you can’t make the gigs, you can still watch them live for a donation - Elbow proved to be the ideal band to set the tone for the week. In their first appearance at the venue and at TCT (scheduling difficulties had prevented them accepting invitation before), they took the spirit of togetherness and built a rocket from it.
