Spacey Jane Live at Rock City

Words: Tom Gensler

Photography: Luke Brennan

Australia’s indie pop darlings, Spacey Jane, are on top of the world at the minute. Fresh

off the back of the very well-received fourth album: If That Makes Sense, they’ve been on a

monster North America, UK and Europe tour, as part of the album cycle. The new album

takes them into new heights, both expanding on the sound they’ve revered for and pushing

it into new territories, making for a catchy and instant fan-favourite record. For the entirety

of the UK and Europe leg of the tour, the brilliant Mia Wray has accompanied them,

making for a fantastic Australian indie pop double feature!

Mia Wray is a fellow Australian indie pop gem, boasting sing-along choruses with

powerful emotive content and heaps of fun all throughout her set. Accompanied by a very

tight three-piece band, with drums, guitar/keys and bass, and with her playing an acoustic

guitar for some songs and a keyboard for others. Her personality is bubbly and extremely

charismatic, with her promising to return to Nottingham for a headline.

She begins her set with the sort-of title track to her debut album, Nice To Meet Me.

What’s very notable about this song, as well as the whole set, is just how good they sound

live when compared to the recorded tracks; every song translates extremely well. It almost

feels as if you're in the studio with them as they play, which is a really unique and fantastic

thing to achieve. Nice To Meet Me is an introspective breakup song; Mia explores herself

and how she feels about who she is through the lens of a breakup. It's simply brilliant, a

good twist on the classic breakup song formula.

The set continues and every song hits extremely well, and the crowd love it. Mia flows

between the acoustic and the piano and just singing consistently, and it's really good to see

someone so confident in different fields live.

However, there is a clear standout song for me; the simply beautiful Fake A Smile. The

instrumental here is minimal and sublime, really helping to isolate the beautiful notes

flowing from Mia’s voice. The verse is good but the pre-chorus hits like a euphoric ton of

bricks. The building feeling is extremely strong, the vocals are pronounced and drenched

in emotion, and the lyrics are equally potent. Everything works well together to craft a

resounding, unifying sound that’s resonant and poignant.

Overall, this was a fantastic and very enjoyable set from Mia and her band, and I’m

very excited to see what he future has in stall for her, as I suspect her moment is coming

soon, due to a luxurious and coveted Ed Sheeran support slot.

The anticipation for the Australian hit unit was building and almost tangible. Everyone

was waiting and ready for them to take to the stage. The room darkens and the stage

alights with a pale, but vibrant, baby-blue hue. The band come out. It's worth noting that

throughout the entire set, whenever Peppa, the bassist, sang or moved about or danced,

there was a huge crowd roar, every single time. The room erupted in joy at the band’s

arrival.

They begin with a fan-favourite, Through My Teeth. Most people are singing, bordering

on screaming, every word, it's amazing to see, and I can’t imagine how this would’ve felt

for the band after travelling all the way. They’ve not just made a splash on the world but a

tidal wave, one striking everywhere with a cooling indie-pop feel. This song, although relatively new, is the perfect way to begin the set, it feels like the perfect tone-setter for

what’s to come.

They power through a variety of songs taken from their catalogue; Estimated Delivery,

off the latest album, Skin off of Sunlight, the debut album, and Lunchtime, off of 2022’s

Here Comes Everybody. The band are giving it their all and the crowd are matching it with

a passionate ferocity.

However, the following song is my first big standout moment of the set, the first of many.

All The Noise, which in all honesty is definitely one of my favourite tracks taken off of the

latest album; it's an absolute beast of a tune live. The guitar riff hits different and stands out

much more live than it does recorded, giving it a jangly, pacey anthemic feel. The post-

chorus segment has everyone moving and screaming along, and this all makes it such a

good moment. For a relatively new song, this is a fantastic reception, and honestly I’m

surprised at just how big the new songs go down, they feel as if they’ve been a part of the

setlist forever, a true testament to the songwriting and creative abilities of the band.

It doesn’t take long for them to reach another high point. Just after the soaring energy

of Sawteeth, they rip into another favourite from the new album, Whateverrrr. The indie-

sleaze-leaning lyrics and feel of this song combined with the smooth sonic the band

always provide goes down a treat, and again, has everyone moving and screaming along.

Spacey Jane are proving themselves to be a band who consistently write high-energy

singalong bangers, and this song proves that entirely.

And again, just after playing the brilliant and slightly more chill How to Kill Houseplants,

they tear into Feeding the Family, from 2017. The fact that this song gets such a huge

reception too just proves that the fans like all their music, and I put this down to the shear

consistency of the music they put out. Their songs are easily identifiable as Spacey Jane

songs, yet are so unique and sonically powerful, not to mention funky, moving and

smooth.

After storming through Thrills and the sublime It’s Been A Long Day, they begin a

simply perfect two song run, playing classic Yet back to back with new song ILY The Most.

This pairing works extremely well, and honestly, throughout the whole set the transitions

are top tier, every song flows so well into the next and the crowd loves it. The obvious care

and attention to pacing in set-listing from the band is fantastic, the balance between the

slower groovier songs and the faster roaring songs works extremely well and everything is

in perfect balance; this is a band with a real master of their craft.

They leave the stage after the classic Booster Seat, their token ender, taken off the

2020 debut album, and return to a huge roar. They plays two huge tunes as the encore; So

Much Taller and Lots Of Nothing. This final one-two punch of smooth sonic euphoria is

really impressive, the perfect end to a set of constant climax.

It takes a lot to move the air of such a legendary venue like Rock City, but Spacey Jane

destroyed the evening in every sense. Spacey Jane are a band on top of the world, and

this set proves it. With a real focus on powerful songwriting and practical yet expressive

performative craft, they’ve reached a perfect equilibrium between the two that leads to

engaging and simply fantastic sets. I cannot recommend seeing them enough, as this was

a simply brilliant show in every way.