Many early Smile gigs occurred in Truro at a club co-owned by Mike Grose called PJ's. Roger knew Mike and his brother John from his days as a member of The Reaction. Other than PJ's, Smile also played a number of gigs at London's Imperial College, supporting many of the day's popular bands including Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) and Family. They soon became known as the Imperial College Band.

Smile played their second major gig at Richmond's Athletic Grounds in late February 1969 in support of the band Yes.

On February 28, 1969 Smile was scheduled to play London's Royal Albert Hall in a charity event organized by Imperial College. Leading up to this show, the band spent a short period rehearsing with a keyboard player named Chris Smith. It was decided however not to continue with Smith and he was asked to leave the group on the way to the Albert Hall. This decision was not made from Smith's lack of musical ability. Smile simply wanted to continue as a trio.

For this show, the group was billed just above 'Free' - featuring Paul Rodgers. This concert featured Joe Cocker, Spooky Tooth, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band as well as other popular acts of the day. A review of this gig stated that 'The loudest band in the Western World unplugged and left the stage' - despite not giving actual identity to the band in question.