CMAT at Fairview Park: Looking ahead to her biggest Irish headline show to date

Before CMAT emerged, fully-formed, with a Diet Coke in hand, in the unholy year of 2020, it was hard to imagine that there was a force on earth that could possibly unite the individual taste palates of Marty Whelan, Robbie Williams, KNEECAP, Elton John and Florence + The Machine.

‘Eclectic’ is probably too small a word to describe the Irish singer-songwriter’s approach – as much influenced by Leonard Cohen and Philomena Begley as Bombay Bicycle Club and the White Stripes, plus countless other pop icons, unsung folk heroes and rhinestone-studded country stars hoovered up along the way. But as idiosyncratic as it is, CMAT’s music is also, like the finest pop, compellingly accessible – capturing the hearts of the casual car radio listener and the lifelong music collector alike, while crossing deftly between the worlds of Wagatha Christie and Greek mythology. That, combined with a serious work ethic and pure, unapologetic brazenness, has led the 28-year-old to her latest career milestone: her biggest Irish headline show to date, at Fairview Park.

Although her annual run of 3Olympia Theatre gigs have fast become a December tradition in Dublin, the Fairview Park headliner hits even closer to home – located just a 20-minute-spin from Finglas, where the artist also known as Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson lived with her grandparents at the outset of her career, and once stacked shelves in the local Supervalu. As such, you can expect this to be a homecoming show of epic proportions: featuring big emotions, big energy, big surprises and, of course, big hair.

CMAT and her fans have plenty of cause for celebration at Fairview too. Her 2022 debut album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, established her as a star on these shores – winning the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year, debuting at No.1 on the Irish Albums Chart, and clocking up streams in their millions. But its follow-up, the glorious gutsy, similarly chart-topping Crazymad, For Me, marked another major step up onto the world stage, with the international accolades continuing to come in a hot and heavy six months.

In fact, since the release of her second LP in October ‘23, CMAT has scored nominations for the BRIT Awards, the BBC’s Sound Of 2024, the Choice Music Prize and, most recently, the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards – as well as claiming the highly coveted Hot Press Album Of The Year honour. She’s also appeared on The Graham Norton Show and Later… with Jools Holland, and toured Europe and North America, playing iconic rooms like The Troubadour in West Hollywood, and the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.

Always one to rise to the occasion, CMAT turned heads and sparked headlines on both sides of the Irish Sea in March, by quite literally bringing ‘the craic’ to the BRIT Awards ceremony, in an iconic derrière-displaying dress. She’s also offered some fascinating insights into her creative brain with appearances on major podcasts like Alan Carr’s Life’s A Beach, Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, Changes with Annie Macmanus, and Elton John’s Rocket Hour.

Clearly, despite her ultimate, only-slightly-tongue-in-cheek goal being to “hopefully make a million euros, to be able to move back to a one-bedroom flat in Dublin city centre,” as she once told Hot Press, CMAT’s path to bona fide global stardom is unfurling rapidly – with her music resonating as intensely with audiences overseas as it does in her old stomping grounds of Dublin and Dunboyne.

So while we have her here for this special hometown show, you better make the most of it – and, in the words of CMAT herself: ‘Have Fun!’

CMAT plays Fairview Park in Dublin on June 13. Also appearing there this summer are Fatboy Slim (June 14); The Coronas (15); Sum 41 (19); Zara Larsson (21); Two Door Cinema Club (22); The Saw Doctors (29); and Loyle Carner (30).

Read our full live special – including all the action at Musgrave Park, St Anne's Park, Malahide Castle, Marlay Park, Trinity College Dublin, Fairview Park and more – in the current issue of Hot Press.