The Swedish band last played in the country on the 'Gran Turismo' 20th anniversary tour
By Max Pilley 24th January 2026
The Cardigans. CREDIT: Press
The Cardigans have announced their first UK show in eight years will take place this summer in London.
- READ MORE: Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells? We put The Cardigans’ Nina Persson to the test
The Swedish pop veterans last played in the country in December 2018 when they performed a string of shows to mark the 20th anniversary of their landmark fourth album ‘Gran Turismo’.
AdvertisementThat run of dates concluded with a show at London’s Eventim Apollo, and now the band have confirmed that they will be playing a one-off show at the same venue on June 27. It will be their only UK show of 2026.
The special early doors show will have a 9pm curfew and a pre-sale for tickets begins at 10am on Wednesday (January 28) for fans who sign up here. They will then go on general sale at the same time on Friday (January 30) and you will be able to find yours here.
The band formed in 1992 and made their debut with 1994’s ‘Emmerdale’. The single ‘Lovefool’ served as a major international breakthrough in 1996, reaching Number Two in the UK and being included in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Further hits followed, including ‘My Favourite Game’, ‘Erase/Rewind’ and ‘Hanging Around’, but they went on hiatus after the release of their sixth studio album ‘Super Extra Gravity’ in 2005.
RecommendedSince then, frontwoman Nina Persson has released albums under her solo side project A Camp and memorably provided guest vocals on Manic Street Preachers’ ‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’, from 2007’s ‘Send Away The Tigers’.
The Cardigans have continued to tour in recent years, after ending their hiatus in 2012, and have played sporadically around Europe and Japan, including a pair of shows in the latter country last October.
As for the possibility of new music, Persson said in 2014 that “if we continue having this much fun [on tour] we would like to make another record, because we like to create new things.”
The closest we have come to that happening, however, was a clip of the band playing apparently new music that was posted on social media in 2022.