Photo Credit: Sarah Doyle
CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) took her country/pop bandwagon to Glasgow for a sell out show at the famous Barrowland Ballroom promising an eclectic mix of music ranging from pop to country and everything in between! To warm the crowd up we had the Irish folk singer Niamh Regan, a Galway born solo artist that is making waves in the Irish music scene and is renowned for her stunning vocals. With around 1000 eager souls getting down early to watch Regan’s performance it may have been a little daunting and lonely to be standing on that famous stage by herself. At times the vocals were very quiet especially over the noise of the crowd chatting in the background, however we enjoyed the half hour set as she worked through songs from the 2020 album Hemet and 2022 EP In The Meantime. Standout songs from the set included What To Do, Save The Day and She. 7/10
‘The Barras’ was full to capacity and the event was recorded as CMAT took to the stage just after 9pm to a thunderous roar as we all excitedly anticipated what songs would be on the set tonight. The stage was set up as a bedroom with a large lampshade hanging from the roof and a set of stairs leading up to what was surely the biggest mirror ever seen in the ballroom. The band have released two albums to date, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead was released in 2022 and in October 2023 Crazymad, For Me. Both albums debuted at number one in the Irish Album Chart. We would get to hear eleven tracks from the latest album, the only one being left out was Torn Apart, so an excellent return.
California opened the show with the crowd singing every word back to the band. CMAT has a large LGBTQ+ fanbase and in a previous interview stated that “I’m making music for the girls and the gays, and that’s it”. There were loads of amazing outfits on show in the crowd tonight with cowboy hats wherever we looked and a special mention to a group of women wearing red beret hats one of which CMAT persuaded to part with and wore for the remainder of the show! It has to be mentioned that several bras were also thrown on to the stage to the delight of the crowd, and the band acknowledged this every time. There is perhaps some irony in the name of this tour: California Or Bust. There was even time for a cover of Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia, of which every word was belted out by the fans. Where Are Your Kids Tonight was one of the standout tracks of the night, with keyboard player John Grant joining CMAT on vocals as they commanded the stage and whipped the crowd into a frenzy once again.
After a short delay the band came back for an encore of three songs, Rent, I Wanna Be A Cowboy and Stay For Something Good, the latest single release, to last thus ending an outstanding night of music and giving the fans one last chance to stamp their feet on the sprung Barrowland floor. 2024 is looking big already for the band with a few festivals lined up already including TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow in July. 9/10
Written By: Alan Brown
