A SPECIAL GALA EVENING OF MUSIC WITH ROGER DALTREY & FRIENDS OF TEENAGE CANCER TRUST

Teenage Cancer Trust’s historic annual Royal Albert Hall concert series returns for 2023 with another unique line-up at one of the world’s most prestigious venues. Newly announced today is A Special Gala Evening of Music with Roger Daltrey and Friends of Teenage Cancer Trust including Richard Ashcroft, the first live performance from Far From Saints, plus very special guest Joan Armatrading, Lola Lennox, and more surprise guests to be revealed. Tickets on sale on Friday 3rd March at 9:30am GMT.

They join previously announced headliners Underworld, Wet Leg, Jake Bugg, Courteeners and Kasabian, plus An Evening of Comedy featuring Alan Carr, Harry Hill, Russell Kane, Seann Walsh, Rosie Jones, Slim, Neil Delamere and Fatiha El-Ghorri - very few tickets remain for these shows, on sale now.

One of the greatest live bands of all time, The Who kickstarted the Teenage Cancer Trust shows back in 2000. For two decades the iconic concert series has featured the best in music and comedy, raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust and driven by Teenage Cancer Trust Honorary Patron and The Who icon, Roger Daltrey.

The Who put on an acoustic show for Teenage Cancer Trust last year, and have played some of their most memorable performances at the Royal Albert Hall, producing some truly historic nights. On Sunday 26th March, Roger Daltrey will headline the final night for a special gala evening of music, joined by friends of Teenage Cancer Trust.

Returning to the Teenage Cancer Trust stage is the legendary Richard Ashcroft. A two-time Ivor Novello winner with five Top 5 solo albums, including the No.1 debut Alone With Everybody, and most recently the No 2 album Acoustic Hymns. He first came to attention with The Verve. With them, he released one of the biggest albums of the era in the shape of Urban Hymns (the UK’s 18th biggest selling album of all-time), as well as a succession of anthems which remain staples of his live set today, including ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’. Ashcroft has supported Teenage Cancer Trust many times over the years, including an iconic performance with Paul Weller in 2003, and an electric headline show in 2021.

Far From Saints is the brand new band formed by Kelly Jones of Stereophonics, with Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker from The Wind and The Wave. This special show at The Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust will be their first ever live performance. The band first experimented with playing music together on tour - merging their influences, they created a fervent mix of Americana, folk, rock and country which very naturally complemented the alchemy and beautiful harmonies crafted by the two vocalists. They recently unveiled their debut track ‘Let’s Turn This Back Around’, with their captivatingly fresh album to be released early this summer.

Very special guest Joan Armatrading will join this incredible line-up for the final Teenage Cancer Trust gig in 2023. One of Britain’s great singer songwriters, Joan Armatrading recently celebrated 50 years in music with the release of her album Live at Asylum Chapel. In a career that has effortlessly crossed boundaries of genre and impacted on many areas of public life, since the release of debut album Whatever’s For Us in 1972, Joan became Britain’s first female singer-songwriter to gain international success. Joan is a true pioneer with multiple awards to her name, including an MBE awarded by the Queen in 2001, following with a CBE in 2020.

Joining the final Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Royal Albert Hall is Lola Lennox. She will perform tracks from her Dreamer EP, live for the first time in the UK, before its worldwide release on April 5. It follows the release of Lola’s critically acclaimed singles ‘Back At Wrong’, (which featured on Radio 2’s A playlist), ‘La La Love Me’ (which entered the Top 10 of the UK Radio Airplay Charts), ‘Wherever You Go’ (most played record on Radio 2 in January 2021),  ‘Love Like That’ and ‘Want More’. Music has been in Lola’s blood from as long as she can remember. She has played the piano and sung from seven years old, written songs from the age of fifteen, and earned a place at the Royal Academy of Music as a vocal undergrad. 2020 saw Lola duet with her mother, Annie Lennox, for their much talked about mid-pandemic performance  of ‘There Must Be An Angel’ for Global Citizen One World: Together At Home to an audience of over 270 million viewers. In 2019 she collaborated with Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory on the soundtrack for the Serengeti docu-series, which was narrated by Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyong’o and aired in over 35 countries around the world (including the UK on BBC and the U.S. on Discover Network). 

Lola Lennox says: “It’s an incredible honour to be joining this special event to raise money for such an important cause. The work of Teenage Cancer Trust is so vital for young people impacted by cancer. I am in awe of the services they provide and I am so glad to be able to support their work in this way.”

Roger Daltrey says: “Lola first came to my attention after I saw her on the Lockdown sessions doing a fabulous duet with her mother Annie Lennox, a singer I’ve always admired. Then just the other day after hearing ‘Hourglass’ from Lola’s new EP, I knew we had to get her at the Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust. I am thrilled that she is able to join our incredible line up for the week.”