Live Review: CMAT - O2 Kentish Town Forum, London 16/05/2024
CMAT brought her addictive style of modern country to a frenzied sell-out show at Kentish Town Forum on Thursday night, serving camp, Kate Bush and playing the very best from Ivor Novello nominated ‘Crazymad, For Me’.
It’s not often you so quickly sense that crackle of electricity in the air at a gig that signals it’s going to be an absolute blinder, but as soon as the Dublin singer sauntered onto the stage it felt like the legend of the show was already canon.
Dressed in bright red tights and (expectedly) a cowboy hat, she warmed the crowd up with an abbreviated version of ‘Nashville’, before journeying straight into favorite ‘California’.
Crowd hysteria was high as they fed off the 28-year-old’s high energy - the audience fully lost it as she did the splits and at one point danced so hard her hat flew off.
In her own words, she was up to ‘tomfoolery and shenanigans’ from the get go: “Kentish Town? More like cuntish town!”, she screamed at one point to rapturous applause.
A mere two songs into the evening and the fiercely loved singer had already received a standing ovation from the balcony.
It’s easy to see why she has a devoted cult following; the campiness of her performance and her stage persona makes you wanna be her best mate, while her warm and raspy voice makes you want to fall in love with her.
As she played ‘I Don’t Really Care For You’, the singer postured and posed like she was the lead in a Western movie, a mix between a cowboy and a deep-south damsel in distress.
If ‘Crazymad, For Me’ is anything to go by, I think it’s safe to say in the western world CMAT would be a badass gunslinger rather than needing to be rescued on the railroads.
Putting herself back together after an awfully toxic relationship became the driving force behind her sophomore album - this is a woman who can definitely save herself (and others if the crowd’s in-awe reactions were anything to go by).
During ‘Mayday’, she whipped off her jacket to reveal a red lingerie look, as she danced on a podium in front of a mirror.
A clear message rang true throughout the evening, CMAT gig’s are a space to celebrate yourself and all that you are, no better demonstrated than when the singer called out to ‘scream if you’re queer’.
For ‘Whatever’s Inconvenient’ she asked us to be her backing singers, before commanding the whole venue to sway.
She had all of us in the palm of her hand, and rightly so.
A self-confessed bucket list moment for the Brit-nominated singer was treating us to a surprise cover song she'd always wanted to tackle.
The lights dimmed and the beginning notes of 'Wuthering Heights' tinkled.
Just before performing the song she admitted: “In the timeline of my career so far I’ve only done things that are incredibly self-indulgent - somehow this takes the cake.
‘I’ve wanted to do this since I was 24 years old. You know what Kentish Town Forum, I can do whatever the fuck I want, cause I’m 28 now.”
If this is what happens when artists are self-indulgent then praise fucking be. The cover was phenomenal. Full goosebumps.
The surprises didn’t stop there, as she joked: “I guess I’m just doing a standard show, it’s just the Kentish Town Forum, I didn’t haven’t anything special planned…Oh wait I forgot, hey John Grant!”
The former lead singer of The Czars came out to perform their collaborative 2023 hit ‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight?’.
After the encore, she kept the party going tenfold, ending on one of her biggest songs to date ‘Stay for Something’.
I left the show feeling euphoric and desperate to find a cowboy hat. CMAT is a force of nature and I can’t wait to see what’s next for her.
Words by Monique Hall
Photography by Abigail Shii
