{"id":353926,"date":"2026-03-29T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353926\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:58:10","slug":"garbage-cover-the-cure-and-placebo-roll-out-fan-favourites-for-robert-smiths-teenage-cancer-trust-gigs-at-royal-albert-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353926\/","title":{"rendered":"Garbage cover The Cure and Placebo roll out fan favourites for Robert Smith’s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at Royal Albert Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garbage<\/a> covered The Cure<\/a> as they came together with Placebo<\/a> for an emotionally-charged night at the Robert Smith<\/a>-curated Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall last night (Saturday March 28). Check out footage, photos, the setlists and more from what went down below.<\/p>\n

With Smith taking over from The Who frontman Roger Daltrey<\/a> to put the bill together for this year, this week\u2019s line-up was kicked off by Elbow<\/a> before huge sets from the likes of Mogwai<\/a> and My Bloody Valentine<\/a>, with Manic Street Preachers covering The Cure\u2019s \u2018Close To Me<\/a>\u2018 in the icon\u2019s honour and Chvrches debuting new song \u2018Conman<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n

In attendance for the stacked bill of Placebo and Garbage last night was Yungblud<\/a>, who\u2019d previously joined Brian Molko on stage<\/a> and was also photographed with Smith after catching My Bloody Valentine the night before.<\/p>\n

\"Garbage'sGarbage\u2019s Shirley Manson and Placebo\u2019s Brian Molko with Yungblud backstage at Royal Albert Hall for the Robert Smith curated Teenage Cancer Trust gig series. Credit: Scarlet Page<\/p>\n

\"YungbludYungblud and Robert Smith backstage at Royal Albert Hall for The Cure frontman\u2019s curated Teenage Cancer Trust gig series after My Bloody Valentine. Credit: Scarlet Page<\/p>\n

In honour of their friend and collaborator Smith and the worthy charity cause, Placebo offered to open for Garbage with a stripped-back set at their first live show in nearly two years since the tour for the lengthy tour for 2022\u2019s acclaimed \u2018Never Let Me Go<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n

Kicking off a set of mostly reworked tracks, the band opened with their spectral cover Sinead O\u2019Connor<\/a>\u2018s \u2018Jackie O\u2019 \u2013 performed live for the first time in over a decade \u2013 before landing a crowd favourite with a tender rendition of \u2018Sleeping With Ghosts\u2019 single \u2018Special Needs\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you ever, ever so much,\u201d frontman Brian Molko told the crowd, before thanking his band, as well as Garbage, \u201cthe legendary Robert Smith\u201d, Teenage Cancer Trust and the \u201cbreathtakingly amazing work that they do\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t played a gig in like two years,\u201d he continued, before admitting that the band were \u201ckinda shitting it\u201d.\u00a0\u201cI need to apologise to the front row. It smells like Donald Trump up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PlaceboPlacebo live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

Highlights included an epic outing of staple Placebo single \u2018Pure Morning\u2019 (performed for the first time since 2018) as well as a dramatically reworked \u2018Taste In Men\u2019, less pulsing but still rhythmic, stripped back but still heavy, and elevated by some dark orchestral flourishes.<\/p>\n

Clearly touched by the audience rising to their feet for applause after \u2018Follow The Cops Back Home\u2019 (aired for the first time in over 15 years) Molko led the capacity crowd in the iconic hall into mass participation to clap the beat to a new take on \u2018Slave To The Wage\u2019 and a huge sing-along to the \u201cbada ba ba ba da da da\u201d vocal hook of a much more soulful and cinematic \u2018Special K\u2019.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Placebo interview: \u201cDavid Bowie taught me how to be a better person\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

After a simmering \u2018Post Blue\u2019 and an almighty crescendo build up for \u2018Meds\u2019 befitting the scale of the room, Placebo closed under the glitter ball lighting for the tender \u2018Centrefolds\u2019, which hasn\u2019t been performed live since the 2004 \u2018Sleeping With Ghosts\u2019 tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much,\u201d ended Molko to a standing ovation. \u201cIt\u2019s been such an incredible pleasure to be with you tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PlaceboPlacebo live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

\"PlaceboPlacebo live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

Placebo\u2019s setlist was:<\/p>\n

\u2018Jackie\u2019 (Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor cover)
\u2018Special Needs\u2019
\u2018Begin The End\u2019
\u2018Pure Morning\u2019
\u2018Taste In Men\u2019
\u2018Blind\u2019
\u2018Follow The Cops Back Home\u2019
\u2018Beautiful James\u2019
\u2018Slave To The Wage\u2019
\u2018Special K\u2019
\u2018Post Blue\u2019
\u2018Meds\u2019
\u2018Centrefolds\u2019<\/p>\n

Arriving on stage to Angelo Badalamenti\u2019s \u2018Laura Palmer\u2019s Theme\u2019 from Twin Peaks, Garbage kicked into new album \u2018Let All That We Imagine Be The Light<\/a>\u2019 highlights \u2018There\u2019s No Future in Optimism\u2019 and \u2018Hold\u2019, with frontwoman Shirley Manson adopting her signature circular prowl as the band dug into the muscular and industrial gothic heft of their recent material.<\/p>\n

Manson then paid tribute to the \u201cgreatest musical community of this country\u201d, Teenage Cancer Trust and \u201cthe bad ass motherfucker\u201d young patients who spoke on stage beforehand, as well as the efforts of \u201cthe great Robert Smith\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also incredibly grateful to the magical, wonderful, incredibly unique Placebo for sharing the stage with us tonight,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey could be headlining here themselves, but they have chosen to come and work with us, work with the charity towards the greater good. Our respect for them is endless.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve known them since the \u201990s, we all grew up together, so it feels particularly special for us to be sharing the stage with them tonight. What an incredible fucking performance you got tonight \u2013 that is something very magical that doesn\u2019t come along very often, so big shout out to Placebo\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"GarbageGarbage live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

\"GarbageGarbage live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

She then went on to speak up for the \u201cinspiring\u201d city of London, and those who took part in the huge anti-far right protests<\/a> earlier that day, \u201cto fight against fascism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if any of you were there today, but if you were there, our undying gratitude to you and our undying respect,\u201d she went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that people hate it when people like me with a fucking microphone and a PA start talking about shit like this, but it would be remiss of me. We have an incredible country here and we must go out of our way to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlights came with Manson squaring up to the front rows of the stalls to get up close and personal for \u2018Fix Me Now\u2019 before the \u201990s banger \u2018I Think I\u2019m Paranoid\u2019, and the \u201cbucketlist moment\u201d of Garbage debuting their pared-back and yearning cover of The Cure\u2019s \u2018Lovesong\u2019 (\u201ca song by a band who inspired us to form a band\u201d, said Manson).<\/p>\n

Manson was typically outspoken throughout the show, making a strong statement when introducing \u2018The Men Who Rule The World\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very fitting that today it should be \u2018No Tyrants, No Kings\u2019, because our record that came out five years ago was called \u2018No Gods No Masters<\/a>\u2018,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had a slight inkling of where things might be going, which felt kind of scary to us. In the ensuing five years, oh boy, we\u2019re fucking happy we wrote this song\u2019.<\/p>\n

Manson was inspired to speak up again, when amplifying the voice of the trans community given the recent decision in the UK for transgender girls to be thrown out of the Girl Guides<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just find this the most astoundingly weird, cruel and nonsensical drive by any government in about a billion years,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry if there might be any trans girls in the Girl Guides, it\u2019s probably about three in the whole country. So well done picking on the most marginalised, most beautiful, most vulnerable community that we have here in the UK. We wrote this song a long time ago, long before we understood the term \u2018gender fluid\u2019. It was just something we were grappling with intellectually.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NME Icon Award alumni<\/a> went on: \u201cThis is getting very personal, but my band are way more feminine than I am. And I am often more masculine than they are. The only explanation we can use as a band as some kind of directive is we are not all born into these fucking funny little stations where \u2018I am a man\u2019 and \u2018I am a woman\u2019. It just doesn\u2019t fucking work like that. Maybe in your life, you haven\u2019t had the pleasure and the privilege of meeting people who are more gender fluid, who are not fucking stuck in trad wife roles or fucking masculine patriarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience in my life is that I have always known so many fucking amazing men who are beautiful and in touch with their femininity who don\u2019t want to fucking beat women, rape them and kill them in alleyways. Also, and I mean this literally, I don\u2019t know any women who have the single mind to come home and cook dinner after holding down a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manson added: \u201cI\u2019m not trying to be controversial, but I really think we need to start talking about this: if you have a wife who\u2019s home and miserable, I would suggest maybe cooking her a meal every now and again. Then with women, just don\u2019t be so fucking girly all the time. Just go on see-saw where sometimes he\u2019s powerful, sometimes you are. It\u2019s a glorious dance, let\u2019s lean into it. It makes us all so much happier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite admitting that she was struggling with a cold, Manson\u2019s voice sounded full-bodied and powerful. After a mass sing-along of the poptastic \u2018When I Grow Up\u2019, she introduced \u201cour favourite song of our entire catalog\u201d with \u2018Push It\u2019, adding: \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t like this then you might as well fucking leave because it doesn\u2019t get any better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GarbageGarbage live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n

After \u2018The Day That I Met God\u2019 closed the first set, Garbage returned for an encore revealing a backstage chat in which the band decided \u201cthee general consensus is we didn\u2019t fuck up\u201d, with them feeling like things usually go wrong when they play London. She went on to thank her band, their team and families, as well as paying tribute to her recently deceased father who would attend their every show in the capital, then closing with their biggest hits \u2018Stupid Girl\u2019 and \u2018Only Happy When It Rains\u2019 with the whole crowd on their feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sill around thanks to fucking weirdos like you,\u201d Manson told the Royal Albert Hall, noting how \u201cthe younguns\u201d were particularly \u201ckind and supportive\u201d. \u201cTonight feels like fucking magic and it\u2019s the kind of world I want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garbage\u2019s setlist was:<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s No Future in Optimism\u2019
\u2018Hold\u2019
\u2018Fix Me Now\u2019
\u2018I Think I\u2019m Paranoid\u2019
\u2018Vow\u2019
\u2018Run Baby Run\u2019
\u2018The Trick Is to Keep Breathing\u2019
\u2018Not My Idea\u2019
\u2018The Men Who Rule the World\u2019
\u2018Wolves\u2019
\u2018Lovesong\u2019 (The Cure cover)
\u2018Chinese Fire Horse\u2019
\u2018Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)\u2019
\u2018When I Grow Up\u2019
\u2018Push It\u2019
\u2018The Day That I Met God\u2019
Encore:
\u2018Stupid Girl\u2019
\u2018Only Happy When It Rains\u2019<\/p>\n

Visit here<\/a> to donate to Teenage Cancer Trust, or text \u2018RAH10\u2019 to 70085 to give \u00a310.<\/p>\n

Speaking to NME ahead of the show<\/a>, Manson explained how was was \u201cobsessed with Placebo\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love them, and we\u2019re delighted to be paired with them,\u201d Manson told us. \u201cI\u2019m particularly touched because they could be headlining the show on their own terms and they very graciously took the decision to play an opening acoustic set. We\u2019ve known them since the \u201890s, of course. We toured with them in South Africa, of all places, a long time ago. It was exceedingly memorable and wild, so the less said about that the better!<\/p>\n

\u201cI love them dearly. I think Brian is a very rare kind of frontperson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manson continued: \u201cBrian was always so fucking cool with me, and not everyone was. There was a contingent of male fucking popstars who weren\u2019t so kind, but Brian was always one of our kind of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been very attracted to the androgynous aspects of Brian\u2019s approach to presenting himself. I loved that he wore make-up and female clothes and that it was beautiful, slightly dangerous, exciting and not something to be ashamed of. I really responded to that and it spoke to me deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garbage return for UK and European tour including dates with Skunk Anansie this summer. Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n

Placebo meanwhile are gearing up to release \u2018RE:CREATED\u2019, a reimagined version of their debut album ahead of a winter 30th anniversary tour<\/a> celebrating their first two records. Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garbage covered The Cure as they came together with Placebo for an emotionally-charged night at the Robert Smith-curated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69,1629],"class_list":{"0":"post-353926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}