Smokeshow - Rough Trade Denmark Street 5th September 2026

I stop in at Rough Trade, an intimate space with an acoustic set from the band Smokeshow. They start to play, the sound echoes and the room feels cosy and tucked away from the vibrant and busy street outside. My first thought was how it reminded me of tiny desk concerts (if you haven't heard of them you can find a range of recordings on youtube). It was the bands first show, Rough Trade being the perfect backdrop for the beginning of a musicians journey, the cosiness added to the atmosphere of the music. The crowd listened intently to the band who's running theme was being away from home as both members are originally from Australia. I could imagine their music being the perfect soundtrack to a romanticised get away outside of London to the coast in a car or train. The last four minutes of their set they gave the crowd an option, a happy song or sad and depressing - the audience opting for the latter, which gives you a general idea on the mood that afternoon. They finished with Doha, a song about how they were unable to catch their flight back home to Austraila due to the war and bombings happening at the time.

I want to talk about Rough Trade, a space fond to many music fans for quite a few reasons. The passionate staff, the records, the books, the live shows, the poster walls, the meet and greets and the retro photobooths. There's plenty of ways you can fill your time there. Rough Trade east in Shoreditch hosts a bar and coffee shop and on Denmark Street, downstairs they have a Schneider Skeller store where you can immerse yourself in the synthesizers. They offer workshops if you want to learn something new and shortcut your way to becoming the next Delia Derbyshire. The Rough Trade on Denmark Street opened in October 2024, being Rough Trade's seventh U.K store joining the array of other music shops and venues on the famous street such as Outernet and The Lower Third.