Words by  Eve Smith

Cmat and her ‘sexy Cmat band’ take on Truck Festival 2026 by headlining Thursday.

Photo by Sofia Ruocco

To wrap up a perfect first day in the fields of Oxfordshire at Truck Festival, it was time for the long-awaited headliner to come to the stage. 

Cmat started her performance at around 9 pm with a fancy entrée onto the stage, whilst the band played around her. The energy was already flowing as crowds were whistling, clapping, and screaming in anticipation of her opening song.

‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ started to play, and the crowd descended into dance, crowds around me jumping together and holding hands. The vibe at a Cmat performance is uniting, and there was a very strong sense of community, love and also wit throughout. 

The stage lit up different shades of pink, red, and blue as Cmat played through songs such as ‘2 Wrecked to Care’ and ‘Have Fun!’. Slowly, the sun was setting as the performance continued, which added ambience and warmth to the arena. During the show, Cmat spoke to crowds, read out fans’ signs, and made jokes in between songs, which made the audience feel as though she was friends with all of us. I think her light-hearted yet passionate attitude to performing made the crowd comfortable, as everyone was dancing like no one was watching. 

“Our set was two minutes long”, Cmat said whilst standing on the main stage, referring to their performance just last year on a smaller stage at Truck Festival. Turns out this band are fabulous, and society has realised it in only a short amount of time.

The moment that ‘Take a Sexy Picture of Me’ started to play was noticeable no matter where you were on the field that night, as just when we thought the crowd couldn’t get more energetic, it was clear there was a higher potential. I believe you did not need to know Cmat or be a Cmat fan to have enjoyed yourself during that headlining performance. 

Overall, the band chose to play an eclectic setlist across an array of her albums, and they had a one-hour and 15-minute set. The majority of songs played were off her most recent release in 2025 called ‘EURO-COUNTRY’. The night ended on ‘Stay For Something’ which felt like the perfect melodious tune; it was the bow wrapped on the night of energetic and great live music.

Photo by Sofia Ruocco