CMAT + Support
The Barrowland Ballroom, Scotland, UK
2nd March 2026
Photography by Evan McGill
Evan McGill
I’m Evan, a 19 year old concert photographer based and raised in Glasgow. Being from Glasgow, I’ve always been around music from a young age, either going to concerts with my parents as young as 5 or playing a variety of instruments throughout my childhood. Photography has also been a passion for many years and to combine both together and music has been nothing but great.
CMAT solidifies pop stardom with Barrowland Ballroom show
Last night, CMAT took on the Barrowland Ballroom for the first of three sold out nights, and you could feel straight away that it meant something. Not just another tour stop. The first of five shows across Scotland, and her first time doing a full Barras run. That room has a way of testing people. She passed in about thirty seconds.
Kicking the show off from the Barrowlands from the back of the ballroom with the whole crowd turning round to tune in to the first song of the night, ‘Janis Joplining’. CMAT returned to the stage and once up there, she barely paused. The Barrowlands floor was bouncing within minutes. It is a venue that demands presence, and she has it naturally. Between songs she drifted off into stories, somehow managing to be genuinely moving and completely ridiculous in the same breath. One minute she is talking about heartbreak, the next she is slagging herself off and sending the room into fits of laughter.
Her voice was huge all night. Properly huge. When she leaned into the big choruses it felt like she was aiming for the back wall without needing the mic. Then she would pull it right back and the whole ballroom would quieten, thousands of people hanging on every word. You could hear the crowd singing along constantly, not in a shouty way, just fully committed.
Her setlist was a surprise singing 2 covers, ‘Caledonia’ by Dougie MacLean and as CMAT introduced it as, “The Scottish National Anthem” before bursting into ‘Inner Smile’ by Texas.
She took a second near the end to look around, clearly trying to process three nights in this room. You could see the pride creeping in before she masked it with a joke. Five Scottish shows on this run, and kicking it off like this. It felt like a step up.
The encore was nothing but sensational and what a way to close out her first of 3 nights at the infamous Barrowland Ballroom with, ‘EURO-COUNTRY’, ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’ and finally ‘Stay for Something.’ It was like she never wanted to walk off stage stretching her performance right to the curfew line. It’s true that CMAT loves Glasgow and it was clear that love was given straight back to her.
Live Gallery
By Evan McGill
