Preparing for launch: CJ & The Satellites live at the Water Rats, London, 28 November 2006
CJ and chums took to the stage at around 10.10pm, and I rued the moment I set foot outside my front door minus my earplugs. I’d forgotten just how loud the volume in the Water Rats can be, but I settled into it and, to my surprise, I didn’t go to bed last night to the sound of high-pitched whistling. I’m sure that a doctor will pop up any moment and tell me that this means my hearing is now completely shot (I think that last word might be a typo), but right now I’m not complaining.
Not all the songs hit the mark - I find Girl’s On Fire to be the weakest of the MySpace tracks, which made its inclusion as last night’s set opener a little baffling - and, as a friend remarked afterwards, the evening was light on surprise. But CJ’s stage presence and chatty, happy-go-lucky personality pushed the set forward and it was a fun 45 minutes. I was especially tickled by his description of the previous night’s Blackpool show, where the audience was sparse but apparently “a nice man”.