CMAT Crashes Manchester with Glitter and Big Country Feelings

Manchester Academy 25th November 2025

WORDS / IMAGES MICHAEL BOND

Credit MICHAEL BOND

CMAT Brings Her Euro Country Tour To Manchester

On a cold Manchester night, the Manchester Academy is filled with an excitable, slightly chaotic energy, coming from the sold-out crowd smattered in glitter, fringe jackets, pink cowboy hats and eyeliner smudges everywhere. As the buzz of anticipation grows for an artist whose recognition proceeds her. Putting on shows that have become part-gig, part-cabaret, stitched together with the sort of chaotic humour and emotional sincerity that fans have come to expect, and tonight proves no exception.

First up is Nashville’s Fancy Hagood, a country singer whose velvet vocals and warmth quickly win over the Manchester crowd with his Tennessee twang. He steps onstage with a confidence of someone who knows he doesn’t need bells and whistles, just charm, good songs, and a voice that wraps around the room like a hug.

Hagood eases through a set that blends slow-burning ballads with shinier pop-country gems. In the quieter moments, his tone turns almost hymn-like, navigating heartbreak and self-discovery with a gentle steadiness. Between songs, he chats casually about the inspiration and origins of his music and the surreal delight of opening for an artist as beloved as CMAT. By the time he closes with a soaring, emotional finale, he has the entire venue on side. It’s a warm, glossy prelude to the technicolour show waiting in the wings.

When the lights drop for the main event, the crowd’s roar is immediate and feral. But instead of appearing onstage with her band, CMAT’s voice floats from above. A single spotlight reveals first a silhouette and eventually her leaning over the balcony, mic in hand, sparkling and catching the light like a disco ball gone rogue. It’s dramatic, entertaining, and completely on-brand. Below, the band kicks in, and the show begins with “Janis Joplining”, her vocals pouring down over the room as the audience swivels upwards with their arms and phones raised until the lights drop.

As she makes her way down to the stage still chatting from the backstage corridors, the atmosphere shifts into full-throttle party mode, lighting up the stage to show off the full band, centre staircase and giant CMAT badge. She crashes into “The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station”, showing her sharp and funny storytelling, as the band lean into the song’s twangy edges.

By “I Don’t Really Care for You”, the crowd becomes a choir. CMAT prowls the front of the stage, playful one moment and deadly sincere the next, shaking out the frustration embedded in the track with theatrical flair. Her voice is as good live, as it is on record, rich, warm, and capable of switching from camp melodrama to emotional gut punch without warning. In between songs she reminisces of her time spent living in Manchester and working in TK Maxx as she developed and grew as an artist.

“When a Good Man Cries” brings a heavier feel, tender but bruised, as she plays the acoustic guitar. The lighting shifts into dusky rose and violet tones, softening the scene and giving the moment a confessional intimacy. Not that she stays solemn for long. “2 Wrecked 2 Care” sees her bouncing across the stage with almost cartoonish energy, a perfect blend of country swagger and messy pop exuberance as you feel the floorboards tremble.

Then comes “Have Fun!”, which feels like a manifesto, part command, part desperate plea. Her banter, notoriously unhinged and heartfelt, is in peak form tonight, riffing about her love of playing Manchester and the crowd bringing Saturday night energy on a Tuesday. “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” arrives drenched in ironic glamour with CMAT posing dramatically for imaginary cameras. Her comedic timing is impeccable; she mocks and indulges vanity in the same breath.

One of the night’s surprises is next, with a tour debut of “Vincent Kompany”. With big chorus, playful bite, and the kind of theatrical delivery made for live performance. The energy refuses to dip through “Tree Six Foive”, which turns the Academy into a full-blown hoedown, feet stomping, arms flailing and CMAT spinning through the song with joyous abandon. Then she brings out “Coronation St.”, a love letter to northern melancholy, as the crowd treats it like a local hymn.

The set’s emotional core arrives with “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”, its moody, shimmering production giving the room a moment of collective introspection. CMAT’s vocal control shines here, sad, soaring, and utterly magnetic. “Running/Planning” closes the main set, bursting with forward momentum and frustrated optimism. She belts through the final chorus like she’s shaking something loose inside herself, leaving the audience breathless and begging for more as the band walks off stage.

After a brief break, the band are back and launch into “EURO-COUNTRY”, the track effortlessly translating into a live anthem. CMAT dances wildly, hair flying, stomping the beat like she’s leading a barn dance hosted at the end of the world. Next is “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!”. It’s campy, and irresistibly catchy, everything fans love about her distilled into three chaotic minutes.

Finally, “Stay for Something” closes the night with emotional resonance. CMAT stands centre-stage, bathed in gold light, as she pours everything into the finale. It’s hopeful, weary, and quietly triumphant, the perfect ending to a show that embraces every messy facet of being alive. Tonight, CMAT proves once again why she’s one of the most compelling performers touring right now. It’s not just the vocals, or the jokes, or the theatrics, it’s the unfiltered humanity she brings to each moment. The Academy leaves buzzing, teary and euphoric. CMAT doesn’t just perform, she invites everyone in the room to come along for the ride and feel something with her.

SETLIST

1. Janis Joplining

2. The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station

3. I Don't Really Care for You

4. When a Good Man Cries

5. 2 Wrecked 2 Care

6. Have Fun!

7. Take a Sexy Picture of Me

8. Vincent Kompany (Tour debut)

9. Tree Six Foive

10. Coronation St.

11. Where Are Your Kids Tonight?

12. Running/Planning

ENCORE

1. EURO-COUNTRY

2. I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!

3. Stay for Something

FOLLOW CMAT

FACEBOOK

WEB SITE

TWITTER