CMAT “didn’t sleep” in run-up to Glastonbury 2025 slot: “I was so, so scared”
CMAT has said she “didn’t sleep” in the run-up to her performance at Glastonbury 2025, admitting that she “was so, so scared”.
The Irish singer-songwriter played a career milestone set on the Pyramid Stage at the legendary festival this summer. She also made a surprise appearance on the BBC Introducing Stage over the weekend.
Speaking on BBC Radio 6 Music, CMAT recalled how nerves got the better of her in the days leading up to Glasto ’25.
“It’s worth noting that the two days beforehand, I was acting like someone who was about to go into war,” she explained (via Evening Standard). “I was shaking with the fear. I couldn’t talk to anyone, I didn’t sleep, like I was ill. I was so, so scared. I was so scared for the Pyramid Stage.”
CMAT continued: “I kind of just kept throwing my head in my hands, and like screaming and being like, ‘Why did they let me do this?’
“And then by the time I walked on stage, the feeling, the first thought that occurred to me was, ‘Oh my God, I’m so relieved that this is about to be over, because I don’t have to be scared of it anymore’.”
She added: “And then, actually – weirdly, because I had had that thought – I was like, ‘Oh, I can just enjoy myself, because it’s about to be over and not in front of me anymore’. Because of that, I actually did enjoy myself, and we were really well rehearsed. And it just felt amazing. It was amazing.”
CMAT went on to remember the “weird” experience of “walking out” onto the Pyramid, to be met by an enormous crowd.
She said: “Someone was like, ‘Oh, you should get about 20,000 people at that time [1:40pm on the Friday]’… and I walked out, and I’ve seen 20,000 people before, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what this is. I’ve never seen this wall [of people]’. They just kept going.
“When I stepped off the stage, I was a bit shocked, and I was a bit winded, because the weight of everything came down on me as I was stepping down, and I literally curled up in a ball behind the sofa in my dressing room and made my sister close the door and was like, ‘No one can look at me for five to 10 minutes’.”
In a glowing five-star review of her Glastonbury 2025 gig, NME wrote: “CMAT captures the spirit of Glasto and sets the bar for the coming weekend – and her life, it seems.” NME also featured the slot as one of “the most unforgettable moments from Worthy Farm” this year.
Speaking to NME about her forthcoming album in March, CMAT explained: “I spent all of September to December working on it in a hole in New York City. It’s done now. I lost my mind there for a bit, but it sounds great.
“I’m really focusing on songs that transfer well to live music, because my live band is such an important part of what I do. They’re the basis of me becoming a well-known person in the UK who is able to sell tickets to gigs. I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for my band, so I wrote an album for both them and me to slay.”
You can watch the full video interview above.
In other news, BBC Radio 1 last month denied claims that it had edited out the Irish-language section of CMAT’s latest single.
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