While her star may be shining a little brighter in 2025 thanks to a standout Glastonbury performance and breakout TikTok hit Take A Sexy Picture of Me, Irish singer-songwriter CMAT has long been one of the best artists to come out of the 2020s thus far. Following her highly-acclaimed first two albums and a reputation for captivating live performances, her new album EURO-COUNTRY looks set to turn her from underrated gem into a bonafide global superstar. With her record store tour stopping by Rough Trade a day after the album's release, we knew we had to go along and catch one of her two performances in this intimate setting.…
Arriving to Rough Trade shortly before 8pm, the door time for the second CMAT show of the day at the venue, we are greeted with an enormous queue stretching round the corner of Broad Street. After opting to pop into The Lord Roberts for a swift pint rather than queuing up, we eventually get in about 8:30pm, where the venue is already filled right up to the bar. Before long, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson emerges from the upstairs Green Room, sneakily shuffling her way through the venue to arrive onstage to huge applause.
She begins the first few minutes of her performance as only she could, speaking to the crowd about her current obsession with website famousbirthdays.com, before asking the audience to vote on which celebrities they think are more famous. Jimmy Fallon vs Peggy Schuyler is one such contest, as is Azealia Banks vs Genghis Khan. “Interesting they share a birthday…” she jokes. She then moves to the date February 23rd, taking a poll on Emily Blunt vs Handel before Kelly MacDonald vs - you guessed it - CMAT. Emerging victorious against the Scottish actress, CMAT speaks of how she has recently bumped into the website’s Top 100 for that particular birthday date. “Let’s face it I’m not going to win the chart battle vs Sabrina Carpenter so this is all I have!” she jests.
After that very worthwhile digression, it’s then finally time for some live music. There’s no "very sexy CMAT band" in the building tonight, CMAT instead performing just by herself with an acoustic guitar. It’s all she needs really, her voice simply goosebump-inducing as she debuts new songs Iceberg and Coronation St., the latter she describes as “about everything being less exciting than when you were younger”. She then asks the fans for some requests, with everyone shouting out a different song it seems – a testament to the depth of CMAT’s discography in such a short space of time. She eventually lands on debut album cut Communion, treating the Notts crowd to a rarity.
Next, it's into two more EURO-COUNTRY cuts: lead single Running / Planning and the outstanding title track, both of which sound sublime in the stripped-back arrangement. During the interval between the two, she tells a story of performing in Nashville for the first time and getting distracted during the performance of a particularly dark track by two American women yelling “She’s so f**king iconic!” A nice compliment at an inappropriate time!
It's then time for I Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby, a song which is usually accompanied by the audience performing the Dunboyne County Meath two-step. CMAT acknowledges the limited space however, asking the audience to adapt to the surroundings. That they do, with some taking off their cowboy boots and waving them side-to-side in the air, while one other audience member waves the coveted limited edition CMAT doll above her head. Before you know it, the show draws to a close with one of the best songs of the 2020s so far – Stay For Something. It creates a beautiful acoustic singalong, with CMAT ending the performance by marching through the crowd with her guitar, climbing onto one of the bar tables, before then darting off back upstairs to the green room. The audience is left cheering and applauding, knowing they have experienced a special performance from a true superstar.
Short but sweet, CMAT at Rough Trade was not just a great celebration of her new album EURO-COUNTRY but also the perfect advert for her upcoming Rock City show, with the Irish sensation returning to our city this October. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, we would suggest acting fast – it’s already shaping up to be one of the most memorable Nottingham gigs of the year.
CMAT performed at Rough Trade Nottingham on 30th August 2025.
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