Back Page For One Night Only!: Edward from Jedward curates his dream gig 

I’ve really taken this very seriously. I was thinking we’d make it a massive festival, not just a gig! We’d have a J-emo stage - like emo, but Jedward - with My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, Avril Lavigne, The Veronicas. Then the ‘serving John’ stage would be Zara Larsson, Charli xcx, Pink Pantheress, Katy Perry. And of course Jedward would be popping up here and there between the acts.

We’re kind of obsessed with Zara Larsson right now. She recently said in an interview that if you spent a week with us, it would cure anyone’s depression. She’s been going for so many years and she has the hits; she’s kind of like an undiscovered gem. Prior to this she was sort of like a record label song machine, but now people are actually getting to know her as a person. I feel like she has her own identity now.

Then we’d also have an Irish stage! As much as people think ‘oh Jedward, they’re just a pop band’, we have created a conversation that didn’t exist in Ireland. The music scene was very serious: you were either The Cranberries or U2 or you were playing the violin… but the Irish music scene right now is really bubbling, and it’s massive internationally. Its landscape has completely changed. When we started out, I genuinely feel like our characters shone through beyond our music; we’ve been going for so many years that it’s a real honour when people come up to us and go ‘oh my God, I watched you on a kids’ show!’.

A lot of the people on this list are people we’ve met or have a connection to: CMAT is really jepic, and we gave her loads of love when she was making her current album. We met Inhaler at their first gig in LA at The Troubadour, when they were kind of up and coming.

Katy Perry will be coming out singing ‘Dark Horse’ on the Nile. They’d be a pyramid for each act, where they emerge from. We basically went on a family trip to The Pyramids with our mam when we were younger, so we’ve got fond memories of being there. I always feel like there’s this magical energy there, something you can’t describe… astrology and all that type of stuff… was it built by aliens? Who knows.

We’d Jed-ify The Pyramids too, maybe put shamrocks at the top or put drops in the Nile to make it green, like it’s getting ready for St Patrick’s Day. We’re like Mariah Carey at Christmas on St Patrick’s Day - always booked! It’s literally our season.

Gemma Collins, obviously. We’ve had so many memories together, and we’ve spent Christmases together, so she’d really bring the energy. I’d bring my Mam - she’d keep me in check. I’d obviously bring John. Ed Sheeran, because we’ve had some great nights together over the years; we all sing Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, those types of pop songs together [on karaoke].

Dr Pepper is our number one employer right now, so I’ll go with those, but maybe some nice cocktails too - something that’s glowing, or something that leaves your tongue blue so then your tongue is glowing as well. And mince pies, obviously.

With festivals, there are loads of artists coming together, but I think there should almost be a studio on site where they can collaborate and write songs, so it’s not just turning up and doing the gig. I had visions of a songwriting session happening; there would be like an ‘unreleased stage’ where the artists work on new stuff, then go onstage to sing what they’ve been working on.

It’d be inside a tomb, maybe Tutankhamun’s or something. All the artists would come out in the pharaoh’s sarcophagus, then they’d open up and get their mic out and be on their way. We’d also have a tattoo parlour that does hieroglyphic tattoos, but they’d be UV, so you could only see it under the right light. It’d be a secret tattoo that says ‘I was there’… almost like you’re in a cult. And a fireworks display to end the night, obviously.

Maybe there’s some high-frequency, namaste-style music, you know? And some sound baths to kind of heal our beings. I’m not really much of a hippie, but sometimes I think these things really do help people.
We also need an entrance red carpet - everyone has their moment to get their look captured. Because sometimes you get ready for a night out and then you don’t get a picture of your incredible outfit. Charlotte Tilbury would be there too - she’d be adding highlight to everyone’s cheekbones and contouring and bringing out the vibes.

Plus, people have to do something special for this gig. I remember we went to see Coldplay in New York, and everyone there had done something for the climate. So this could be something where everyone has stood up for an injustice, or helped someone else. Oh no - let’s go with making it a twin convention! It’s all twins. 

Tags: Features, December 2025 / January 2026, From The Magazine, Jedward