On Saturday February 2nd, I had the change to see Jaya The Cat play live in support of their latest effort – More Late Night Transmissions With… After doing an interview with singer Geoff and drinking some beer in a nearby café with a friend of mine, the night started with the show of the Belgium guys from Mise En Scene.
After I grabbed a beer, which was really expensive by the way, we went to the stage where Mise En Scene was almost ready to play. They were all standing like they could start any second, but their guitarist wasn’t ready at all. His guitar was for example still in his guitar case and it seems that it took forever ‘till he played his first notes. When they finally started to play I quickly knew they simply sucked. Their street ska punk - as they call their own music - wasn't very convincing, but the best example for how the band sucked was the keyboard player. When this guy wasn’t playing he just leaned really careless against a wall and he was more busy with rolling tobacco than with his stage-performance.
After a short break it was time for the band we all had been waiting for: Jaya The Cat. The venue was almost fully packed and they all witnessed a great show from the enthusiastic Geoff & Co. I recently reviewed their latest release and just as on the record the songs were sounding great. The new songs were received very well by the audience and also the oldies did well. Especially songs like ‘Are You With Me?’ and ‘Twist The Cap’ were highlights of the show. Normally a Jaya The Cat concert is just to much for me, 'cause I'm not the biggest fan of ska punk in general, but the band managed to entertain me troughout their whole set. The interaction between the band and the audience was also great, but maybe it could be a little bit better, because they didn’t use their mini-bar this night. All in all a hell of a party though.