When tickets for Jane Remover’s show went on sale a few months ago – the designated venue given as Band on the Wall – I jumped at the opportunity. This is, after all, one of the most exciting musicians currently in the business – I couldn’t not go and see them. Within a few minutes, though, only the option to join the waitlist for tickets remained; myself and, as the following makes certain, scores of other fans left hoping, praying, for an eleventh-hour venue upgrade.
Luckily for us, the show was bumped to the Ritz a few days beforehand, which some people found out only after rocking up to the previously billed venue (as I gathered from an overheard conversation in the queue). Really, this change was inevitable: Jane Remover has exploded in popularity this past year, a rise largely attributable to their dazzling album Revengeseekerz, which dropped at the start of April. Their rise to stardom is made that much more awe-inspiring by the fact that they’re 21 years old, with three incredible records already under their belt – having released their seismic 2021 debut when they were just 17.
In short, Jane Remover has rapidly become a definitive artist of my generation: effortlessly and assuredly drawing from genres as disparate as dubstep, rap, digicore, rock and pop to engineer a sound both distinctive and hugely invigorating.
Relieved though I was to have bagged a ticket to what Jane revealed mid-set was their biggest headline show to date (!), a few questions lingered in my mind. How would the songs from Revengeseekerz, all mind-expanding bangers that provide a dopamine hit like nothing else when blasted through headphones, translate in a live, open setting? Would Jane do them justice in their performance of them? You’ll be pleased to learn that the answers I got were, on the whole, positive.
I should probably preface my review of this concert with the fact that I have the joy of experiencing chronic fatigue – ergo, not the best-suited person to as energetic a show as Jane was sure to put on (or standing concerts in general, but I still go, consequences be damned). Regardless, I loved the show and enjoyed a good view from where I was stood at the side for its duration. Was I initially a hopeful resident of Mosh Pit City, to which, again, I’m not really suited but which I thought then, surely, I could withstand anyway? Yes! But, steering this review swiftly away from the matter of my delusion:
Jane was joined on stage by their friend and long-time collaborator Dazegxd who opened the show with a solid DJ set, in which certain songs by similarly young, exciting and (for some in the majority Gen-Z audience) generational artists – think EsDeeKid, Fakemink and Pinkpantheress – were rabidly received. It was through this set, too, that the sheer energy of the crowd became apparent: the amount of pits that were opened up for songs in the set that didn’t warrant a full-on mosh was almost comedic. That said, it was nice to see so many young people just letting loose in what felt like a respectful environment.
This can’t be said of every gig, but the moment Jane’s set started – with Revengeseekerz opener ‘TWICE REMOVED’ – time ceased to exist. All that mattered from then onward was the bone-shuddering bass that engulfed the room and the acerbic performer throwing themselves about the stage to its pulse. On that, the amount of ground Jane covered over the course of the hour and ten minutes they were up and running – and singing, too – was genuinely impressive, and their seemingly boundless energy made each song they played hit that bit harder.
The mosh pit was more or less continuous from here on out: tracks like the thumping, Danny Brown-featuring ‘Psychoboost,’ ‘Dreamflasher,’ ‘angels in camo’ and ‘Experimental skin,’ a personal favourite of mine that was life-affirming to witness live, more than maintaining the show’s already stupefying momentum and intensity. In the show’s early stages, Jane seemed to be more focused on getting that energy up, as they were jumping with the audience and screaming – something that, you will learn, they love to do – more than they were singing their lyrics. This could have just been to psych themselves up, though, which is fair (especially considering this was their biggest ever headline show).
Honestly, with every song played, this concert only got better. Something I found particularly laudable about Jane’s set was the fact that it wasn’t just comprised of their hardest songs (and their discography is far from lacking in that department, believe you me). Rather, some of the tracks they played – ‘Fadeoutz’ and ‘Dark night castle,’ for certain – saw the activation and swaying of phone torches. Moreover, Jane’s performance of the latter song was, for me, one of the best of the night: kneeling on stage and singing with their back to the audience, they looked completely and utterly absorbed in the music.
Quite the stark contrast, then, to the songs during whose beat drops and choruses Jane would let out these shiver-inducing screams. One of my main take-aways from this concert was that, should Jane ever make another rock/noise album like 2023’s Census Designated (my favourite of their three records), I would love to hear them experiment more with screaming – they’re bloody good at it!
Another take-away was that these songs definitely translated well live, though this was helped considerably by Jane’s stage presence. Other highlights for me included ‘Professional Vengeance,’ a jubilant cut from Revengeseekerz rooted in the bouncy digicore sound they perfected on Frailty, ‘TURN UP OR DIE’ (a total banger, if the title wasn’t enough of an indication) and triumphant album singles ‘Dancing with your eyes closed’ and ‘JRJRJR,’ which they dedicated to ‘anyone who’s ever had to change their name’ (an experience many in the crowd, myself included, could relate to).
Additionally, though I’ve only mentioned songs from Revengeseekerz up to this point, Jane did play three songs from elsewhere in their discography at different points in the set. To the delight of many, they dusted off a Frailty number – ‘movies for guys’ – as well as 2020 breakout track with kmoe ‘homeswitcher’ and a more recent single, 2024’s trappy ‘Flash in the Pan’; diversifying the set further and to great effect.
Jane Remover is an absolute marvel of a musician, performer and artist. You may have just missed them, but as Manchester clearly loves them, no doubt Jane will be back before long; touring new material that will, as has everything else I’ve heard by them, probably change my and many others’ lives when it drops.
