Jenny Greene has been a driving force in Irish dance music for almost 25 years.
She first made her mark at just 17, spinning on the legendary Pulse FM, and quickly built a reputation as one of Ireland’s most respected and versatile DJs.
And we love getting the chance to catch up with her. Here we talk about the music that made her…
Hi Jenny! You’re playing the 3Olympia later this year. Talk to us about the gig!
I played there in May, and I remember there were a lot of months of prep that went into staging the visuals and the lighting and everything like that. At the time, I just couldn’t picture a dance gig in the Olympia, and that was kind of the overriding thing I kept saying. We actually managed to do it, and it was great. It’s such an iconic venue, and I’ve been to so many gigs there over the years, but all generally and singer-songwriters. So I was thinking, “How do we create this kind of club atmosphere with a stage in the Olympia?” I think we managed it on the night, it was a great night and then to be asked to do it again, it is even better. I’m really looking forward to doing that and doing it in September as well, it’s a great time of year. It is one of those venues we’ve all gone to for years and I was like, “I can’t believe I’m actually DJing in the Olympia.”
You must get a great buzz from that!
Every time you play a gig and even given the number of years I’m playing gigs, I still get really nervous beforehand. It’s only when you’re sort of a little bit into the set that you really start to get this feeling. You can feel the reaction of people and you can see it in the room. I think there’s something even after all these years when you kind of have moments of like, I don’t know if I’m, if I still want to do this or whatever. Then you get moments at certain gigs where everything just kind of works, it’s the music and it’s the people, and it’s the right atmosphere at the right time. You can play a track somewhere, and it just works, and people lose their minds. You can do the same thing at another gig, and it just doesn’t. So I think when you get those moments, you really just relish them because they don’t always happen at every gig.
DJing has been a predominantly male space. Do you still feel like it’s like that in 2026?
When I first started, it was 100 per cent. a male-dominated space. When I first started DJing, I got a gig as the warm-up in The Palace on Camden Street. I was 15 then, and they had to make me a special staff card just to allow me on the premises. There were really no women. There was a handful of females DJing at the time, not really many in Ireland, I’m thinking back, it was like Lisa Lashes and Ann Savage. They all played hard house, and everyone was kind of really in awe of them. I couldn’t believe women were doing this because that is so long ago. Now I feel that while festival lineups still have a long way to go in giving women the opportunity, but I think every year it’s improving. There are so many female DJs now, you know, which there never was before. There has been a huge shift in the last five to 10 years. Only 20 years ago or 15 years ago, people like contacted me to book me and said, ” We’re putting on a female-only DJ night.” I never did that because, I didn’t like the way it was being billed as a thing, as it shouldn’t be. Tou’re not a novelty act, you’re just a DJ.
When you were growing up, what was the type of music or what albums and what artists were you listening to?
It’s changed so much over the years. When I was very young, it was probably influenced by my parents, particularly my dad. So it was like Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen. When I got to my teenage years, everybody was listening to hip hop. So it was Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. That was literally what we were all listening to. I think when I was about 13 or 14, my sister went to Dance Nation at the Point. I remember specifically that she had this double cassette called Rave 92. I started listening to that, and I suddenly then shifted completely away from hip hop, which I thought I never would. I just started listening to dance music and it kind of continued from then.
Do you have a DJ or a musician or a producer that inspires you?
10 tracks come out, and everyone goes, these are the 10 tracks we’re all going to play. And I just find that so boring. So the one person to me through his entire career, and even the age he’s at now, has never done that, is Laurent Garnier. Production-wise, he’s incredible. I think as a selector and having this ear for discovering music, he can go in and play whatever he wants because he’s, he’s Laurent Garnier. He takes risks, and he plays the most unusual and incredible stuff. If I’m ever in a slump, I just put on a live set of his on YouTube and watch it. And suddenly you just get inspired again. He just brings that out of me, I think.
What was the first gig that you went to?
The very first gig I ever went to was East 17 at The Point. A friend of mine in school, her dad was a builder. He happened to be doing work on Dave Fanning’s house, of all things. And I remember her coming into school one day and going, “Dave Fanning has given my dad two East 17 tickets,will you come with me?” Obviously, it wouldn’t be my cup of tea now, but at the time, the excitement of walking into The Old Point as well, because let’s be honest, that was when it was at its best. And being in this, in this room, and it’s just, what an experience.
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Do you have an album you think that shaped you? I
Moby’s Porcelain. I was working on FM104 when that came out. It took a while to get into it because obviously everyone’s so used to their album now and knows how brilliant it is. But I remember persevering with it because it wasn’t what I expected, because his previous album had been so like banging. Those are the days you just went out and bought an album without even hearing it because you knew you loved the artist. My love for my taste in music now, probably all started with that album.
Talk to us about the difference between doing a live show and a radio show.
I kind of got into radio accidentally. It was not really a dream in the early days. But it actually suits me because I’m quite introverted and sitting in a room by myself and playing music that I love without having to interact as such with people is incredible. There’s a lot of music I feel that works really well on the radio that I wouldn’t necessarily play in a club. And then vice versa. I think about them completely separately. Maybe to a degree, the radio part of it suits my personality more.
Before we let you go, what advice would you give to teenage Jenny?
I’ve always been a worrier. I just wasn’t academic and just panicking, thinking, what am I going to do for a job? Even though at 16, 17, I was DJing, I never thought it would be a full-time job. I started in FM104 when I was 17. But even then, I didn’t think I ever thought it would last or that I’d still be doing it all these years later. And so I’d probably say, enjoy the ride and don’t worry. I’m not sure if I’d have taken any heed of that, you know, because everything I worried about never happens. Even though I’m saying that now, I’m still in that headspace. And when moments are great or great things happen to you to really, really enjoy them, because none of them last either. Then you spend your time looking back on, “God, wasn’t that amazing? I wish I’d really enjoy that.” This is a good day. Like soak it up. Tomorrow could be s**t.
Jenny Greene will be headlining her ‘Balearic Nights’ show at the 3Olympia on Saturday, 12th September. Get your tickets now
