The iconic Ella Hooper opened the stage in a sparse, but quickly swelling Factory Theatre (16 January).
The one-time (and occasionally still) vocalist from Killing Heidi has been pursuing her solo career for some time with her second album being released almost a year ago to the day, seven years after her first.It was from that album, 'Small Town Temple', that we would hear the majority of songs performed in her 40-minute set. There was a tinge of surprise that Hooper has really picked up on the country sound but along with her excellent violinist, Lucy Rash and the masterful guitar of Mic Hubbard, they really showcased how strong Hooper's songwriting skills are with stories of young trouble, hidden bongs and pillow talk.
In usual Hooper fashion, she was effervescent in between tracks and happily shared the origin tales of her music, of visiting her childhood home of Violet Town and her excitement for the main act. It was a short but sweet set, giving us a great chance to know the direction her musical path has taken her.
Ella Hooper - image © Hayden Nixon
It's hard to gauge how popular an artist is, but when you drop the name CMAT with your friends, you often get a quizzical look and/ or questions on whether that's a new operating system; you start to think maybe there won't be too many people at their gig, but we must never underestimate the Irish-born population in Sydney.
Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson is a Dublin-born artist and somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to mainstream Australian interest. If you're a fan of Americana, you surely would have tapped into her two albums, released in 2022 and 2023, her latest, 'Crazymad, For Me', nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.
For the Irish, you'd know her because she has become an iconic presence, on the stage and off, attracting massive crowds in her home country as well as the UK proper. There was little wonder then that the Factory probably housed a majority of ex-pats from the motherland.
CMAT - image © Hayden Nixon
In fact, later in the night she'd announce that her brother was holding down the merch desk and that he lived with her sister and cousin in Coogee, along with most of her school mates (not to mention a huge proportion of Sydney's Irish community!).
Her second ever headline show in Australia (Melbourne's show was upgraded from The Corner Hotel to Northcote Theatre two nights earlier) felt like a monumental moment for the artist and the crowd were right behind her from the get-go.
Both of the opening tracks from her two albums started the show. 'California', from the latter album, was announced: "Sydney, this is the greatest song of all time, I hope you like it!" This brash confidence is part of the charm of the artist. Not afraid to do high-kicks, spin around the stage, do coordinated dances with her keyboardist or roll around on the stage floor, CMAT is constantly moving.
Her anecdotes between stories, her obvious affinity with her talented band and a series of songs that sound ten times bigger live than recorded means we were transfixed for each track of the nearly two-hour show.
CMAT - image © Hayden Nixon
She proved she could hold the crowd with her quieter numbers like 'Lonely', with its warm steel guitar and backing vocal before moving on to the more visceral 'Aw, Shoot!', complete with crowd participation and high kicks.
If any of the Australian members of the crowd were internally comparing the voice and movements of the singer to our own Chrissy Amphlett, you wouldn't be the first. Seemingly, the comparisons have been so frequent that CMAT has decided to cover 'I Touch Myself' from the Divinyls in excellent fashion, performing the song to perfection to an adoring room.
'Have Fun!', the final track from her latest album, was a great addition to the set, before rounding out the main set with 'Where Are Your Kids Tonight?' including a great all-band instrumental outro.
There was always going to be an encore and apparently the Irish say "one more tune!" instead of the standard "song!" from Australians. Cute! We were treated to a perfectly simple solo acoustic rendition of 'Such A Miranda' before the full band returned to complete the song 'Rent' and big tracks, 'I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby!' and 'Stay For Something'.
"In Melbourne, I felt like The Beatles, but tonight I feel like Beyoncé!" declared the obviously delighted singer. "This has been probably one of the best gigs!" We won't know if she really meant it, but it certainly felt like a watershed performance from the up-and-coming star.
CMAT - image © Hayden Nixon
CMAT performed on the small stage like it was a stadium, holding the crowd in the palm of her crowd, delighting them with not only her voice, but her charisma, smile and excellence in songwriting. It will be the last time the artist plays such a small room in Australia and with good reason. She should be getting the attention she deserves in a genre of music that is exploding around the world.
The worked up crowd wanted to stick around, even at the death, as the Euro trash Vengaboys played through the PA, having seen something special that was very well worth staying for, but more importantly, coming back for in the future.
More photos from the concert.
