Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly publication Now Hear This for the inside monitor on all issues musicGet our Now Hear This e-mail for freeIn latest years, Roger Daltrey has grow to be a “divisive figure”. Yes, he’s been bullish and belligerent in his misguided support of Brexit, however he’s unimaginable to not love. Not least as a result of, over 24 years, he’s been the ringleader, curator and driving power behind the annual Albert Hall Teenage Cancer Trust reveals, performing more than every other act – each solo and with The Who – and serving to to raise £32m for specialised NHS models to take care of younger victims.Tonight, earlier than standing down from this selfless position for good, Daltrey performs one last show, Ovation, joined by a choice of artists he’s cajoled into enjoying through the years. “This ovation is for all the unsung heroes, all the people that have been there unconditionally,” he says, taking to a “bloody death trap” of a stage as he introduces the night time. Besides the rank of teenage victims and survivors who make a number of shifting appearances, although, most of the accolades bathe down upon the principle man himself. For all 4 hours of the show, the night’s stars reminisce about Daltrey’s affect and gruff magnanimity whereas, in pre-filmed messages, Paul McCartney plays him a four-second song called “Thank You Roger” and Steve Coogan declares him “a good bloke” – and The Who “The Kinks for welders”.The night time begins sturdy. “We’re the warm-up act,” declares Paul Weller, settling in with his stool-bound band for an opening half-hour of pastoral people balladry, nation blues and – no doubt to the befuddlement of anybody who final noticed him in ’77 – bouts of bongo and jazz flute. It’s a swish, if surprisingly rootsy exhibiting for an artist within the midst of one of essentially the most brilliantly experimental late-career runs this facet of Bowie, and as “Wild Wood” creeps from the undergrowth to hushed reverence, the tone is immaculately judged.Apologising to Pete Townshend for “stealing all his tunes for my first album”, Weller invitations Daltrey back on for a cowl of The Who’s “So Sad About Us” that they haven’t had time to rehearse: “That’s what makes it fun!” Daltrey beams. A equally crisp and brisk “That’s Entertainment” has you pitying whoever has to comply with it, notably when it turns out to be Stereophonics’ king of beige advert rock, Kelly Jones. Arriving solo and sometimes tortured, Jones reaches for the heartstrings however manages solely the occasional pluck; “You’re My Star” touchingly relives his own household’s brush with most cancers. Otherwise, his between-song tales about purchasing for his wedding ceremony go well with with Weller and being given a elevate to the primary TCT gig in Noel Gallagher’s Rolls-Royce are far more attention-grabbing than dreary, oversold fare like “Maybe Tomorrow”.On the subject of stripped back soul-baring, Jones might study a factor or two from Eddie Vedder. Though the Pearl Jam singer takes to his stool with the manner (and pork pie hat) of an unassuming folkie, there’s an in-built dynamism to the songs (each his and Pearl Jam’s) that he flays to country-punk bones tonight. He even drops a sly bit of “Pinball Wizard” into “Far Behind” and nearly will get away with it.Vedder additionally proves himself a grasp pace-shifter. It’s a poignant second when he introduces The Frames’ Glen Hansard on a cowl of Jerry Hannan’s oppressive “Society”, likewise when he invitations his daughter Olivia to offer harmonic counterpoint to his granite mineshaft of a voice on “My Father’s Daughter”. After which, he ends his set thrashing at his acoustic guitar all through “Porch” and slamming it onto his stool as if it’s all used up. Now, we’re actually amongst titans.Sometimes two without delay. “When I saw you up there, I thought, ‘Who is this golden god?’” says Robert Plant, catching Daltrey as he heads offstage from compere duties to inform him what an inspiration the early Who had been to him as a still-sprouting 16-year-old. It’s traditional rock’s equal of the two-Spidermans meme. Plant’s set with his new band Saving Grace, nonetheless, casts him as more demon than deity.Saving Grace play ominous, arcane people songs and covers steeped in an elemental Southern swampland mythology. The kind of songs for which a banjo participant is given his own centre-stage podium and the important thing lyrical takeaway is perhaps “keep your hand on that plough, hold on”. As Plant weaves beautiful lovelorn harmonies with co-singer Suzi Dian, “As I Roved Out” is attacked with slasher flick guitar riffs, and Low’s “Everybody’s Song” turns into possessed by historical Eastern drama. Meanwhile, staccato brimstone blues infiltrate Led Zeppelin’s “Friends”. Some say they noticed the satan on dobro.Paul Weller (left) and Roger Daltrey (centre), on stage during Ovation, a celebration of 24 Years of gigs for the Teenage Cancer Trust, on the Royal Albert Hall, London (Ian West/PA Wire)“How do you top that?” Daltrey exclaims as he launches into his own last set, declaring “I just wanna have fun tonight”. And, regardless of batting away requests for “Substitute” (“that’s the other band”), he takes a free and freeform method, overlaying Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door” within the model of a Nashville Who, enjoying “Squeeze Box” bluegrass model – and bellowing his method by way of Taj Mahal’s “Freedom Ride”.Enjoy limitless entry to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon MusicSign up now for a 30-day free trialSign upEnjoy limitless entry to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon MusicSign up now for a 30-day free trialSign upDaltrey’s powerhouse vocals steal the show, whether or not he’s turning his Leo Sayer-penned debut solo single “Giving It All Away” into a shiver-inducing anthem, embodying Celtic people’s most heroic balladeer on “Without Your Love”, or beginning tornadoes in Texas with a last, guest-accompanied rendition of “Baba O’Riley”.“I’ve completed the job I set out to do,” he says as curfew descends and his position with the Teenage Cancer Trust shifts from PR to protectionism: “If the NHS goes down, I wanna make sure this charity doesn’t go down with it.” And cementing his standing amongst rock’s saintliest previous sods? That, too, is job completed.