Well, Charli xcx has a lot to live up to. CMAT’s afternoon set on the Pyramid Stage threw down a rhinestone gauntlet to the festival’s big guns with an all-timer performance involving hyperactive and hilarious stage craft, songs which soared in the fun, and a huge will to simply grab this moment and wring every drop of joy from it.
CMAT — Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson — has been the long-time rising star from Ireland who seems to tick every box in modern pop stardom. Sexy dance moves in Lycra, songs about messy love and hating Jamie Olivier and a viral “silly dance”. Or as she puts it: “I have middle child syndrome, an amazing arse and the best Irish rock country band in the world.”
With a clutch of albums under her belt and a new one on the way, this set felt like a true mass recognition of her talent and a step up into superstardom. What she has, that so many other artists don’t, is the ability to be a laugh. She’s constantly messing about, showing off, pulling faces, tearing around the stage, rolling over and taking the piss. It’s old school entertainment that you just know comes from years of winning over hostile audiences in pubs, and makes her some dream combination of Kate Bush, Dolly Parton and Charlie Chaplin.
She had the huge audience that had turned out for her in the palm of her hand throughout. There was one priceless moment mid-set where she tells the crowd to talk among themselves while she has a band meeting. In a huddle with the “very sexy CMAT band,” the mic ‘accidentally’ picks her up saying, “Do you think they like us?”
Later she’ll spot someone side of stage: “Sinead! That’s my mum... I love that bitch.”
The songs are fantastic too. Take A Sexy Picture of Me, from her upcoming album, is about the body-shaming abuse she received online after some pics were posted of her from a gig last year. Of course her reaction is to strip down to her Lycra, wave her bum to the crowd and deliver a perfectly rendered protest song which is an anthem for celebrating yourself and telling the world to go die. It has a set of dance moves that are so ridiculous it’s impossible not to copy them.
Another new song, The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station, is not a Jamie Oliver diss track, she says, more about her own hater tendencies. It combines her absolutely stunning vocal range with clowning about, hitting herself over the head as she curses her own viciousness.
For I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! she had the entire crowd doing the a country two-step — and it really is the entire crowd — a sight which leaft the singer beaming. But then she was off again, into the crowd this time during Stay for Something, bouncing around and disappearing from view as the climax hit — along with the realisation among everyone watching that this was a bona fide classic set.
Where did she get the energy? Back on stage, high kicks, silly faces, high notes, death drops onto the stage, and calls for Free Palestine.
She said: “This was the scariest thing ever, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.” One of the best things Glastonbury has ever seen too.
