CMAT proved herself as the people’s princess in Newcastle this weekend in the second show of her rescheduled Euro-Country tour. Self-proclaimed “Dunboyne Diana”, the singer (real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) made a welcome return to the city following her residency opening for Sam Fender in June—a gig she herself wasn’t shy about mentioning. “We’re off to rob his house,” she claimed at the close of her show, shortly after reassuring the crowd she was “completely over” being beaten by him for this year’s Mercury Prize. Judging by the amount she ran around City Hall, she’ll make a very successful burglar.
The show started with screams and a lot of confusion as the standing section appeared to stare blankly up at the ceiling. Over the course of ‘Janis Joplining’, those of us on the balcony began to realise CMAT was up there with us rather than on the stage with the rest of the Very Sexy CMAT Band. This opener certainly set the tone for the rest of the show. As a performer, CMAT feels less like a polished pop star and more like the fun drunk at a party, intent on dragging you onto the dance floor with her. CMAT works a crowd like no artist I’ve ever seen. She lies on the floor to talk to the audience like a child at a sleepover; has a host of synchronised dances and waves for the crowd to reflect back at her; and philosophically discusses the correlation between bisexual women and the Titanic disaster. The audience participation appeared to have peaked with the two-step dance to ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby’, only to reach a whole new level as CMAT climbed over the barrier into the standing section to belt out the final lines of ‘Running/Planning’ amongst the crowd.
‘Take a Sexy Picture of Me’ garnered an arguably even more enthusiastic reaction—clearly, we’d all been brushing up on our dance moves before the show. While the crowd may not have been the expected demographic (we had one aborted attempt at a Newcastle football chant which died out shamefacedly after just one line), there was nobody in the house who wasn’t utterly enamoured with the performance. Her wide-ranging audience is a testament to the strength of CMAT as an artist, and her discography that spans from mediations on the societal pressures on women to diss tracks about Jamie Oliver. CMAT’s music really does have something for everyone, in large part because of her genuine natural charisma. Even when announcing her love for the “ladies, gaydies and theydies” in attendance, Thompson made sure that the men in the audience still felt the love (though she did specify that she’s a fan of them as individuals, rather than as a collective).
Preceded by two openers, the main set was relatively short, only 12 songs in total. While it was mainly a tour of her greatest hits, there were occasional deeper cuts with ‘Lonely’ and ‘Have Fun!’ interspersed throughout. But CMAT seems to understand that what sets concerts apart is physically being in a room with an artist, rather than the setlist they play. Even if her show misses out your favourite (it’s okay ‘Coronation Street’, I’ll still always love you), CMAT is undeniably worth watching—full of energy, charisma, and seemingly bottomless talent. Go see her in a smaller venue while you still can, she’s going to be huge.
“CMAT, May 2025 (cropped)” by Raph_PH is licensed under CC BY 2.0.