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Cats In Paris, Olympians

Neil Watts 19/09/2010

More fool anyone who chose to watch X Factor from the comfort of their sofa instead of parting with a measly 300 pennies for this gig. The karaoke juggernaut may offer the promise of countless eccentrics (and downright morons) greedily snatching at their fifteen seconds of fame but Cats In Paris have an eccentric of their own, in the form of Michael J. Watson. He even comes with oodles of borderline obnoxious talent. He meows during songs, has awkward but hilarious banter and often has pensive moments when manipulating his synthesiser, prodding effects pedals or producing wails from his violin.

The set he and his two cohorts unleash is varied, challenging and impossibly fun. Potential single Chopchopchopchopchop sounds a little like the music produced by the strange fuzzy creatures from the Coca-Cola ad. The variety of subjects they touch on during their set hints at their eclectic and hyperactive tendencies. Reference points included the Civil War, actor Matthew McConaughey, mutants, former cricketer Michael Atherton and Wilmslow. Baffling they may be but they're certainly more worthy than X Factor, even though Simon Cowell would probably refuse them an audition.