Smokie Are Coming to Madrid — Five Decades of British Pop Rock on One Stage
Smokie have been one of Britain’s most enduringly popular live acts since the mid-1970s, and on July 4, 2026, they bring The Legacy Tour to Teatro Monumental in Madrid. The show starts at 7:00 PM, with tickets from €39.
The band’s story begins in Bradford, Yorkshire, where schoolfriends Chris Norman, Terry Uttley and Alan Silson formed their first group in the mid-1960s under various names before settling on Smokie in 1973. Signing to Mickie Most’s RAK Records and working with the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, the band broke through immediately: If You Think You Know How to Love Me reached number three in the UK in 1975, followed by a run of hit singles that became the soundtrack to British and European pop rock for the rest of the decade. Don’t Play Your Rock 'n' Roll to Me, Oh Carol, I’ll Meet You at Midnight, Wild Wild Angels, Lay Back in the Arms of Someone — and above all, Living Next Door to Alice (1976), which reached number one in seven European countries including Austria, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, and remains one of the most recognisable songs of its era. Chris Norman’s duet with Suzi Quatro, Stumblin' In (1978), gave the band their biggest American moment, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1995 comedy reworking Living Next Door to Alice (Who the F**k Is Alice?) with Roy “Chubby” Brown introduced the song — and the band’s name — to an entirely new generation.
Smokie have continued to tour consistently through every lineup change in their history. After the deaths of bassist Terry Uttley and vocalist Mike Craft in 2021, the current lineup brought in vocalist Pete Lincoln and bassist Luke Bullard, joining longstanding members Steve Pinnell on drums and Martin Bullard on keyboards — both part of the group since the 1986 reformation. More than twenty studio albums, uninterrupted European touring, and a catalogue of songs that audiences across the continent know by heart.
The Smokie concert in Madrid takes place at Teatro Monumental — a historic Madrid venue opened in 1923, situated on Calle de Atocha in the city centre and long associated with some of the Spanish capital’s most memorable live music nights. Tickets available from €39 at ticketsfest.eu. Tickets on sale now.
