Words by Hannah Eldon & Damari Martin
Following the recent release of her debut album, JADE’s tour arrived in Manchester at O2 Victoria Warehouse. Performing a sold-out show, the former Little Mix member proved that she is most definitely a pop star capable of standing on her own. Soon after its release, THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! attracted fans both old and new, exploring feelings towards significant figures throughout her life, including her family, partner, ex-music labels, and seemingly her ex-bandmate Jesy Nelson.
The influences of electroclash and synth-pop throughout the album established her own sound separate from her former group, and was highly recognised worldwide. This was reflected by its debut in the UK official album charts at number three, only prevented from topping the charts by Ed Sheeran and Sabrina Carpenter — two titans in the music industry. This debut was labelled as the “biggest opening week for a debut album of 2025”: So, after spending over a decade in one of the most successful girl groups of all time and selling an estimated 75 million records worldwide, the pressure was on to please long-time fans with an impressive performance.
Tickets sold out weeks before she was set to hit the stage, with fans eagerly awaiting her return to Manchester. JADE instantly dominated the stage with her opening song ‘FUFN’, enthralling every eye present. During this performance, she followed a fan favourite trend; the crowd yells “what are you doing, JADE?” before she responds by singing “I’m getting out the car, I slam the door, we’ve done this all before, I ain’t doing’ it tonight”. While the crowd relished this interaction, JADE was not done yet.
As she confidently transitioned from song to song, the star enchanted the crowd with a variety of intricate dance sequences to perfectly match the energy of each section of her multifaceted performance. Whilst JADE demonstrated her ability to put on a fantastic show with stellar vocals and killer dance moves, she also made a big effort to connect with the crowd, speaking to fans and laughing with them in between songs, mentioning countless times that Manchester was “the best crowd [she’d] ever had”.
A particularly notable aspect of the show was the dreamy stage design. The audience was aided in noticing the start and end of a song by the changing colours, perfectly matching colours to the vibes of songs: pink was used for her groovy love song ‘Lip Service’ and orange was used for her disco and funk inspired song ‘Fantasy’, both of which executed their desired effect with fans feeling the love during ‘Lip Service’ and feeling as if they were floating in a dream during ‘Fantasy’. This was utilised spectacularly when she performed ‘Natural at Disaster’, the most dramatic song on her album. The lights had been turned off, excluding a singular spotlight which set the mood perfectly, allowing the intensity of JADE’s feelings to be fully conveyed.
Though THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! was JADE’s primary focus, she stopped at nothing to make sure there was a song for everyone. Performing covers of Madonna and her own Confidence Man collaboration, ‘Gossip’, as well as the appearance of classic Little Mix song ‘Wasabi’, JADE ensured that there was not a soul in the venue that her show did not cater to through the feature of an impressive fifteen-minute mashup section which included songs both old and new.
Encapsulating the idea of showbiz entirely, JADE began her songs ‘Glitch’ and ‘Angel of My Dreams’ with short skits, encouraging bellows of laughter from the audience. As the concert neared its end, JADE briefly disappeared from the stage, leaving everyone eagerly waiting for more. Gasps and murmurs from the audience in the balcony led everyone to turn towards the commotion as JADE suddenly appeared above in a striking red dress.
As the commotion quickly settled, she began serenading the crowd with her love song ‘Silent Disco’, dedicated to her partner Jordan Stephens. As she elegantly held the hand of a fan beside her, she reflected the love from the audience back to them, before returning to the stage to close with her debut single, ‘Angel of My Dreams’.
JADE arrived in Manchester with a clear mission and did nothing but shatter expectations and leave the audience astounded with her eclectic performance. This truly was showbiz baby, and JADE showed Manchester that she indeed is the ‘IT girl’.
