Photo Credit: James Mirfield
Words: Em Artherton

On Friday night, Halifax’s The Piece Hall welcomed Irish Pop sensation, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, or CMAT, for her first headline at the 18th century cloth hall. With a crowd full of cowboy hats, glitter and red hair, the sold out audience waited in joy and excitement for the singer. 

Supporting act Katy J Pearson set the tone for the night with her catchy choruses and unique vocals.

As soon as CMAT took to the stage, the venue erupted into cheers and screams. The next two hours that followed were full of choreographed dances, stunning vocals, jokes and pure excitement from both the crowd and seemingly CMAT herself. 

The set began with much loved, ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ in which the singer ran up and down the stage, waving, greeting and interacting with the crowd. Immediately, the tone is set for the night, at the end of the single she screams along to the melody, with the very sexy CMAT band running across the stage behind her- it’s hard to know where to look!

The pop singer then delved into other beloved hits, ‘I don’t really care for you’, ‘When a Good Man Cries’, ‘2 Wrecked 2 Care’, ‘Aw, Shoot!’ and ‘Running/Planning’. All while dancing, performing, giggling and constantly expressing her love for The Piece Hall and the adoring Halifax crowd. Which in turn brought her to interacting with one of the audience members who just happened to be the director of The Brontë Parsonage Museum, which led to the Irish-singer delving into a sprightly performance of Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, which really highlighted the impressiveness of CMAT’s vocal range and truly felt like a love letter to Halifax. 

In contrast to the 80’s anthem, CMAT then delved into her energetic pop hit, ‘Have Fun!’, in which she gets the crowd to raise and wave their hands. Followed by the viral sensation, ‘Take a Sexy Picture Of Me’ where both CMAT and the crowd indulged in the choreographed dance made popular on TikTok. 

One of the most memorable performances of the night featured keyboard player Colm Conlan and CMAT performing a stunning rendition of ‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight?’. Conlan sang what was originally the vocals of John Grant. The two are clearly close friends and the chemistry made for a truly radiant performance.

The band then left the stage and we were treated to two acoustic performances of ‘Nashville’ and the beginning of ‘Rent’. The latter was then joined once again by the band at the end. 

To bring the show to a close, singles ‘Euro-Country’, ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’ and ‘Stay for Something’ were played to the spirited crowd. As the singer flung herself across the stage and interacted with her band, kicking her legs and throwing her hair back- one thing is clear, that Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson was absolutely made to be on the stage. 

CMAT is a vision, and a fantastic performer, and her shows have something which is becoming rarer and rarer these days, which is her ability to make you as an audience member, truly feel like part of the show, whether she picks you out in the crowd, you’re stood at barrier or at the very back, her energy is infectious, and for those two hours, it truly feels like you’re part of something really special.