'Your Room Will Be Ready': a closer look at the events in the Royal Albert Hall's film
During its first 150 years the Royal Albert Hall’s stage has borne witness to once-in-a-lifetime events and hosted some of the biggest musicians in the world.
To coincide with Your Room Will be Ready, our new film release, we have dived deep into our archive to showcase some of our favourite artwork and photographs from some of the most memorable events featured in the film.
Head over to our online store to see the whole collection.
Eric Clapton makes his 200th appearance, 2017
In 2015 guitar and Royal Albert Hall legend Eric Clapton completed a run of seven concerts to celebrate his 70th birthday. In the same year Slowhand passed an unfathomable 200 Hall performances.
Fourth Annual Film Ball, 1933
The Hall has hosted six Annual Film Balls in its time, the first being the somewhat confusingly titled Fourth Annual Film Ball in 1933.
The cream of the 1930s British acting crop were in attendance, including Leslie Fuller, Stanley Lupino, Clifford Mollison, and Lupino Lane.
The Chelsea Arts Club Annual Ball, 1910 – 1959
The Hall has played host to numerous pageants and balls in its history, but none could compete with the annual Chelsea Arts Club Ball when it comes to sheer eccentricity and decadence.
Dame Shirley Bassey’s tribute to composer John Barry, 2011
Dame Shirley Bassey brought the house down with a performance of her classic James Bond songs Diamonds are Forever and Goldfinger, as the climactic finale to the John Barry memorial concert.
The Rolling Stones show that started a mini riot, 1966
On 23 September 1966, the Rolling Stones topped the bill at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time. The energy was high and the gig momentarily halted as fans clambered on to the stage to get closer to their heroes.
Coldplay’s intimate in-the-round concerts, 2014
Coldplay made a triumphant return to the Royal Albert Hall in 2014 with two in-the-round concerts to celebrate the release of their sixth studio album Ghost Stories. With the stage set in centre of the arena, those lucky enough to be there had a rare chance to get up close to band.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience kick off their UK tour at the Hall, 1967
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were invited to play the Royal Albert Hall on 14 November 1967, alongside The Move, Pink Floyd, The Amen Corner and The Nice at the start of a 16 date UK tour that bewitched the country to the band’s psychedelic, rainbow blues.
Iggy Pop crowd surfs and conquers, 2016
Godfather of punk Iggy Pop arrived with a supergroup lineup of Queens of the Stone Age guitarist, Josh Homme, and Arctic Monkeys drummer, Matt Helders, for one of the most electric gigs in the Hall’s recent history.
Chris Cornell’s acoustic performance, 2016
Chris Cornell based his whole UK tour around this concert at the Hall. Best known as lead singer of Soundgarden, Cornell played a spine-tingling, intimate acoustic show with a setlist that included covers by The Beatles and Prince.
9 ways you can support us
This extended closure has put the Royal Albert Hall, like many other venues, in a perilous situation.
Without shows on we have lost our major source of funding, but there remains a number of ways you can continue to support the Royal Albert Hall during this crisis:
Related Events
150th Anniversary Concert
Archive prints available online
Bring a piece of music history to your home with one of our archive prints:
Support us
Please support the Royal Albert Hall during the coronavirus crisis.
Donate online, join us as a Friend, or text 70490 with the following:
5ALBERT to donate £5
10ALBERT to donate £10
20ALBERT to donate £20
Registered charity No.254543. Text-to-donate operates via major UK networks only and cost the donation amount plus one standard rate message.
Watch legendary moments in music history, alongside appearances from artists, athletes and activists, in this tribute to live music, narrated by Mick Jagger.
We can’t wait to be back doing what we do best, and when we are your room will be ready.