Live Review: CMAT - Alexandra Palace, London 13/03/2026
I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby! CMAT takes over a sold-out Ally Pally with a riotous, shenanigan-ridden performance for her biggest headline show to date.
What a year 2025 was for CMAT, the popstar alias of Dunboyne-born Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. With the revelation of EURO-COUNTRY, the Irish singer-songwriter leapt from a rising indie pop act to a cultural sensation, an eminent new voice for thoughtful, feisty and vivacious pop that took airwaves, charts, critics and festival crowds by storm. Battling with Sabrina Carpenter for a number one album, raiding Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, and supporting Sam Fender’s mammoth stadium tour; all in a year’s work for the Dunboyne Diana. Oh, and she sold out Ally Pally in an hour last August.
The final UK show of her It’s The Euro-Country tour was always going to be special, but a cocktail of hilarity that only CMAT could construct surpassed all expectations, including a guest appearance from Harry Hill dressed as a giant dart board and a live premiere of the music video for ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’, starring Jamie Oliver himself.
But first, supporting act Katy J Pearson took to the stage, wielding just her acoustic guitar. Her voice cascaded around the cavernous hall, a smooth, warming blend of resonant post-Fleetwood Mac Stevie Nicks and the knottier folk hues of Joan Baez. New track ‘Lucky Star’ was met with intrigue, and her 70s country vibe grew with the addition of Evie on violin for much of her set, which included an alternative version of the striking ‘Alligator’, the soft mythology-infused ‘Siren Song’, and the memorable ‘Beautiful Soul’. The Bristol singer-songwriter’s ninth show supporting CMAT, her final number ‘Take Over Town’ felt like an ode to the Irish pop heroine’s incoming presence.
The first of many surprises followed, with “Please stand by for a very important message from a very important CMAT and a very important chef” emblazoning the two giant screens flanking the main stage, along with a countdown. Chanting anticipation revealed a video of an extravagantly fur-clad CMAT announcing the premiere of her ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ music video, all whilst sat next to a very disinterested Jamie Oliver (“a guy I found on the street”). The video alternated between shots of The Very Sexy CMAT Band’s excellent synchronised dance moves and an increasingly stressed Jamie Oliver running a kitchen. Both converge at - you guessed it - a service station, and a fed-up Jamie Oliver is tempted towards a drumkit by CMAT, who dances and wails around him as he lets go on the toms and cymbals.
The crowd more than warmed up, it wasn’t long before the ominous piano opening of ‘Janis Joplining’ blared through the speakers and The Very Sexy CMAT Band filtered onstage in matching black and yellow Dunboyne Darts Co. outfits. Cheers erupted as CMAT revealed herself on the far side of the crowd with her first words “I’m a writer…”, pausing for the gleeful audience to watch before continuing. Soon frolicking onstage, she delivered the rest of the song with an electric stage presence until the band froze (in very impressive poses) and a puzzled CMAT surveyed the crowd to thunderous applause.
After a resurgent performance of ‘Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’, the theatrics continued as CMAT patrolled the front of the crowd with a scowl, directing heartrending lines from the powerful ‘I don’t really care for you’ at unsuspecting fans (then apologising after). Midway through the track she paused, taking it all in.
“Holy fuck… this is a lot of people. We don’t usually get to play for this many people! Either the culture is getting stupider or hornier… both things I feel would be better for the way of the world”.
Her energy totally infectious, and the crowd lapping up every word and glance, she declared that despite her feud with the chef, “he’s a good man”, jumping into the bittersweet ‘When A Good Man Cries’. The stomping country-tinged ‘Tree Six Foive’ was up next, leading into another romp as Ally Pally turned into a sea of waggling fingers for ‘Have Fun!’. Another shenanigan ensued as the one and only Harry Hill took to stage dressed as a giant dart board to announce The CMAT Darts Break, and each of the band took turns throwing darts at a staggering Hill, who held back laughter to repeatedly announce “180!” with incredulity. It was Ally Pally, after all.
Next, self-affirmation anthem ‘Take a Sexy Picture Of Me’ led into Katy J Pearson’s return to the stage for a crowd-rousing cover of Girls Aloud’s ‘Biology’, with CMAT and Katy playfully trading lines back and forth throughout.
After the sombre, amethyst-hued moment of ‘Coronation Street’, “a song about severe depression when I lived in Manchester”, CMAT took an impromptu song request from the crowd, launched into the verse and chorus of ‘California’. Next, her introduction of the one and only Very Sexy CMAT Band predictably descended into pantomime. Undoubtedly their showmanship knew no bounds, but their musical talents deserve equal plaudits, staying tightly knit however many dance moves were thrown, or in guitarist Jack Wolter’s case, how many instruments.
“Do you think we can take the people of Alexandra Palace on a run and a plan?”, the Irish star asked, beginning the final song of her main setlist. Her voice was a tour de force across the whole night, shifting from tender moments to operatic tendencies with ease, and we’d now reached the pinnacle. The crowd hanging onto her every word, CMAT’s lyrical narration of the societal pressures around heterosexual relationships displayed her expert ability to effortlessly balance humour with hardship, all wrapped in a song that truly brought the house down.
You can't get much stronger encores than CMAT’s closing numbers, barrelling through the titular ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ into the joyous romp of ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’, with a break in between for some “administration” across three points: the T in CMAT stands for trans rights, fuck Reform and free Palestine. Shortly after, 10,000 of us rallied together for perhaps the largest Dunboyne County Meath Two-Step held in one room ever before, swaying back and forth as our redheaded overlord commanded.
With one final boogie left, ‘Stay For Something’ saw CMAT climb into the crowd once again, before returning to take a much-deserved bow with the Very Sexy CMAT Band. Her packed touring schedule will take her across Europe and then America over the next few months, playing multiple shows almost every week until festival season kicks in. Ready to break her own record again - and sure to do so in style - in June CMAT will head 10 miles Southwest across the capital to headline LIDO festival in Victoria Park. That’s a whole lot of Running/Planning,
Words by Taran Will
Photography by Stefania Semini
