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music · Monday 31 August 2026 · 7:00pm 
CMAT - CHSq Belfast
At Custom House Square (CHSq) · Custom House Square, Belfast, Co. Antrim
At Custom House Square (CHSq) · Custom House Square, Belfast, Co. Antrim
CMAT - Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson - closes out Belfast’s biggest summer concert series with what is billed as her largest ever headline show in the city. This is an outdoor evening show at Custom House Square, one of Belfast’s most distinctive live music settings, and it draws the kind of crowd that has been waiting a while for this moment. If you have any fondness for country-inflected pop with actual personality behind it, or you simply want a proper late-August night out in the north, this is a good reason to come to Belfast.
CMAT’s music sits somewhere between classic country-pop and sharp Irish wit - her 2024 album EURO-COUNTRY earned five stars from The Guardian, who called it “a rolling sea of charm, chaos, substance, sadness and piercing insight.” Rolling Stone UK named her “deservedly set to be the breakout star of 2025.” She performs songs that range from big anthems to quietly devastating moments, and she is known for a live presence that feels genuinely warm rather than stadium-polished.
Support on the night comes from Katy J Pearson, a British singer-songwriter whose sound complements CMAT’s without overshadowing her.
The show closes the CHSq 2026 summer series - Custom House Square runs headline acts each August against the backdrop of one of Belfast’s finest neoclassical buildings. The square itself is a standing outdoor space, so wear shoes you are comfortable in and check the weather before you go. Gates open at 6pm; the event listing gives a start time of 7pm for the main programme. A second date runs on Tuesday 1 September if the Monday sells out.
Custom House Square sits in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, within easy walking distance of the city centre. Lanyon Place station is roughly ten minutes on foot and serves trains from Dublin, Derry and regional towns across Northern Ireland. Belfast Grand Central station is also walkable. If you are driving from Dublin, the M1 motorway brings you into Belfast in around two hours, though city-centre parking is limited on event nights - park-and-ride options on the edge of the city are worth considering. Translink run bus services from most towns in the north.
Cathedral Quarter is one of the best parts of the city to spend an afternoon before a show - cobbled streets, good food, and the Black Box arts venue nearby. There is more to see in Belfast and across Co. Antrim.
Heading to Custom House Square (CHSq) in Belfast? Antrim has plenty more to see. Read the Belfast area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.