Tom Jones, CMAT and Faithless to headline Belfast summer gigs

Whether you find yourself singing along to What's New Pussycat?, dancing to Take a Sexy Picture of Me or raving to Insomnia, Belfast is bringing a series of headline shows by international musical artists this summer.

Welsh singer and performer Tom Jones, Irish singer-songwriter CMAT and British dance act Faithless are among the big names heading for Custom House Square (CHSQ).

The series of gigs will begin on the 8 August and will run until 1 September.

Last year's headliners included Kingfishr, Ben Nicky, Stiff Little Fingers, Amble, David Gray and Chase and Status.

With a career of over six decades, 85-year-old Jones has sold over 100 million records and has had a string of hit songs including It's Not Unusual, Delilah and Green, Green Grass of Home.

Growing up in Pontypridd, South Wales, Jones left school early, working odd jobs before starting in a local band. Later he went on to form his own group - Tom Jones and the Squires - gigging in clubs and pubs in the local area.

In the 1960s, Jones signed with Decca Records in London and kick-started his career.

CMAT, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, is an Irish country-pop singer.

She started her career in Dublin before moving to England, and then back to Dublin to reinvent herself.

Her debut album If My Wife New I'd Be Dead came out in 2022, and the follow-up Crazymad, For Me was released in 2023.

Her well-known hits include When A Good Man Cries, Stay For Something and her recent track, The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station.

Faithless formed in 1995 and were pioneers of stadium dance music. They headlined some of the world's biggest festivals including Glastonbury, taking to the Pyramid stage in 2002.

The lead singer, Maxi Jazz, died at the age of 65 in December 2022.

The dance act were known for singles including We Come 1, which reached top three in the charts in 2001 and dance hit Insomnia, which reached third in 1996.

The band split in 2011 but returned to release a new studio album almost a decade later, during the Covid pandemic.

However, they weren't joined by Jazz, who had formed another band, Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys.

The CHSQ gigs begin on Saturday 8 August and end on 1 September 2026.

The headline artists include:

• Lush Classical
• Tom Jones
• Ben Hemsley
• Foy Vance
• The Proclaimers
• Faithless
• Stiff Little Fingers
• Wunderhorse
• Idles
• Wolf Alice
• CMAT