Support for Foreigner at OVO Arena Wembley came in the form of rock legends Jefferson Starship, a band who themselves have been through a number of title and line-up changes over the years. With only one remaining original member, David Freiberg, now 88, this was also a band that had to reinvent itself on more than one occasion and has also seen some long, drawn-out legal cases to ascertain use of the name Jefferson Starship.
Jefferson Starship
OVO Arena Wembley – 19 June 2026
Words: Adrian Stonley
Photography: Robert Sutton
It was clear that Jefferson Starship were as much of a draw and attraction as the headliners, Foreigner, and they played an hour set to a packed-out OVO Arena Wembley.
Quite honestly, I think many here would have been more than happy for that to have been extended. However, they made the most of the time they had.
It has been a long time since they last visited these shores, and there will have been many here tonight who would never have seen them in the live environment or thought they would ever get to see them live. I, for one, am amongst that contingent.
What was provided by the band, though, was a pure greatest hits set, with one new song, which stretched across the entire canon of Jefferson Aeroplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship.
Opening with Find Your Way Back, it seemed as though they were making a statement. It has been a while, but we are back. The band’s latest vocalist, Cathy Richardson, is a perfect replacement for original singer Grace Slick.
I am not going to try to compare them. How can you compare with Grace? But vocally, tonally and attitude-wise, she fits those well-established shoes perfectly. At times, if you closed your eyes, you could have thought that Grace was back on stage, even bringing a close similarity to the vocals, to the intensity of her performance, then berating the audience for poor singing.
It was as though they had never been away.
The first half of the set was a homage to all things good and great about Jefferson Starship, with tunes intertwined between their ’70s heyday and the more commercial ’80s output. Stranger, Wind Of Change, and Count On Me were delightful and rolled back the years.
The ballad Miracles was exquisite and, played tonight, it has lost none of its freshness and emotion.
With the band making the most of animated visuals, we were turned on and tuned into a vast psychedelic wave as they brought back Airplane’s White Rabbit. The song that brought Alice In Wonderland into the ’60s hippy drug realm.
With the backdrop featuring mushrooms, rabbits, and a psychedelic chessboard, it summed up the song perfectly, particularly as it closed with the word Marijuana emblazoned across the screen.
Yet, if this had put some of the older members of the audience into raptures, the joyous rock ‘n’ roll of the ’80s Starship output followed, shining a light on that era. From the Mannequin film ballad Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, into the buoyant rock ‘n’ roll of We Built This City, the audience were standing, dancing and singing along.
Could they add to this? Well, of course, as Jane pumped through the speakers, complete with Cathy on Cowbell [More Cowbell Please].
Interestingly, we were then introduced to a new song, Jet Pack. The band’s first new material produced in six years, though this was the first time played live and was completely unknown, it went down an absolute storm. This is a fabulous slice of hard rock in the Vein of Jane, and We Built This City, upbeat, up-tempo, bouncy and great fun, and full of screaming guitar solos. And yes, David Freiberg still has it.
With band introductions and a snippet of Fooled Around And Fell In Love courtesy of long time Starship drummer Donny Baldwin, time was close to up. Yet, there was just time to roll back the years to the ’60s one last time for the eternal classic Somebody To Love. Just perfect.
The only downside was that as the audience poured out to get merch, they discovered there was none.
But what a set, what a night.
