Gig review: CMAT’s sold-out career highlight makes for the ultimate party

CMAT heralded the Fairview Park gig as the biggest of her career, and came prepared to perform accordingly

CMAT. Photo: Johnny Savage.

Saoirse Hanley

Nostalgia is seemingly the theme of CMAT’s sold-out show in Fairview Park, and not just on account of her musical influences. Thursday night was the biggest night of her career, and she knew it. But as she stepped on stage to a shortened version of Nashville, an image of a young Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson in a Dublin jersey is on the screen. It’s her night too.

She has worked hard to get to this point. “About ten or 11 years ago I did my first ever open mic at the Bleeding Horse. Now, there’s 8,000 people in a tent,” she tells the crowd, “and nobody is more surprised than me.”