What are some of the best karaoke events near you?
December 14, 2015 4:59 AM Subscribe
I want to host a regular karaoke night in my town, and I want to make it awesome. What are some karaoke events that you know about — either one-offs or regulars — you think are great? And what makes them good?
Different strokes for different karaoke folks.
To answer the question in terms of what I prefer, I don't know that anything needs to be all that special. Drawing a crowd requires regularity (same time, same night every week/month/whatever) and getting the word out.
Booze is critical. Not everyone who sings karaoke drinks, but for a critical mass of people it's required to get over the inhibitions of performing in public.
Set the tone of fun, NOT a competition. The vast majority of karaoke-rs are not trained singers, and for me nothing drains my enthusiasm for the event like 1. feeling like I'm a let down after someone goes out there and belts a tune and is clearly a trained singer and has practiced it, and 2. feeling like you have to be good at Singing to be good at Karaoke. Obviously you are going to get some great singers up there, but your goal is to get a variety of people up there letting loose and having fun, not getting a lineup of the same people who are good singers and already feel comfortable on a mic. To this end, my favorite karaoke host has rules about no booing and everyone is supposed to clap after every song.
I refuse to go to places where the karaoke host fucks around with the order of songs/singers. This means no accepting large tips to bump someone up, and no bumping up regulars or friends. You can manage it somewhat by not letting people put in a new song until after they sang the one they already put in. If the list is getting long, let people know so they don't get upset when they put in a song at 1 am thinking they'll get to sing before last call.
Once a song has been sung for the night, it shouldn't be repeated. One of my worst karaoke experiences was when I put in a song and apparently so had one of the regulars and the host, instead of telling me to pick something else, decided to announce (without asking me) it was going to be a contest to see who sings it best. No, fuck that, I left. Plus the rest of the crowd doesn't want to hear repeat songs.
posted by misskaz at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
To answer the question in terms of what I prefer, I don't know that anything needs to be all that special. Drawing a crowd requires regularity (same time, same night every week/month/whatever) and getting the word out.
Booze is critical. Not everyone who sings karaoke drinks, but for a critical mass of people it's required to get over the inhibitions of performing in public.
Set the tone of fun, NOT a competition. The vast majority of karaoke-rs are not trained singers, and for me nothing drains my enthusiasm for the event like 1. feeling like I'm a let down after someone goes out there and belts a tune and is clearly a trained singer and has practiced it, and 2. feeling like you have to be good at Singing to be good at Karaoke. Obviously you are going to get some great singers up there, but your goal is to get a variety of people up there letting loose and having fun, not getting a lineup of the same people who are good singers and already feel comfortable on a mic. To this end, my favorite karaoke host has rules about no booing and everyone is supposed to clap after every song.
I refuse to go to places where the karaoke host fucks around with the order of songs/singers. This means no accepting large tips to bump someone up, and no bumping up regulars or friends. You can manage it somewhat by not letting people put in a new song until after they sang the one they already put in. If the list is getting long, let people know so they don't get upset when they put in a song at 1 am thinking they'll get to sing before last call.
Once a song has been sung for the night, it shouldn't be repeated. One of my worst karaoke experiences was when I put in a song and apparently so had one of the regulars and the host, instead of telling me to pick something else, decided to announce (without asking me) it was going to be a contest to see who sings it best. No, fuck that, I left. Plus the rest of the crowd doesn't want to hear repeat songs.
posted by misskaz at 6:27 AM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
I refuse to go to places where the karaoke host fucks around with the order of songs/singers. This means no accepting large tips to bump someone up, and no bumping up regulars or friends.
Sorry this is what I was trying to say, the only bumping the host should do is to make sure new people get to sing as often as possible.
Obviously you are going to get some great singers up there, but your goal is to get a variety of people up there letting loose and having fun, not getting a lineup of the same people who are good singers and already feel comfortable on a mic
100% agreed here too. I've been to karaoke nights in NYC where 80% of the performances were by regulars and they were all wannabe professionals (actually a few of them may have been actual broadway chorus folks, they were legit great) but they were just sitting at the bar belting stuff out. I wouldn't keep going back to that.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:40 AM on December 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
Sorry this is what I was trying to say, the only bumping the host should do is to make sure new people get to sing as often as possible.
Obviously you are going to get some great singers up there, but your goal is to get a variety of people up there letting loose and having fun, not getting a lineup of the same people who are good singers and already feel comfortable on a mic
100% agreed here too. I've been to karaoke nights in NYC where 80% of the performances were by regulars and they were all wannabe professionals (actually a few of them may have been actual broadway chorus folks, they were legit great) but they were just sitting at the bar belting stuff out. I wouldn't keep going back to that.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:40 AM on December 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
I have been participating in a competitive karaoke league (which hosts tons of non-competitive events as well) for a couple of years and agree with everything misskaz says! I'll just add a few more thoughts of mine.
I personally love it if, as a singer, I can also see (but not alter!) the queue, because another big thing with queue management is that you ideally want to encourage people to tell you if they are leaving so you don't have to go through five minutes of awkward "Bueller? Anyone?" towards the end of the night. People will be more likely to do that if they can see their place in the list and find out if they will be able to sing before the time they plan to leave. Karaoke software will usually let you see the timing of when each person in the list is up.
Also, people who submit songs to force their friends to sing them are annoying. Don't let people do that. Yet another reason to hard-enforce the 'one slip per person' rule. If you catch people doing this, tell them not to. It drives me seriously crazy because people think they know which songs their friends know, but they don't, and you end up with the karaoke track playing while the person flails around confused.
In terms of the venue setup: 2-3 mics, monitor with lyrics for singers, and it's also good to have a big screen behind the singer so the audience can see. Make it incredibly obvious where to get song slips, where to put them, and where to find the song book. Don't make it difficult for singers to get to where you submit slips (one bar I go to has it confusingly set up so that you have to walk across the stage, i.e. behind the current singer, in order to hand a slip to the MC).
posted by capricorn at 8:17 AM on December 14, 2015
I personally love it if, as a singer, I can also see (but not alter!) the queue, because another big thing with queue management is that you ideally want to encourage people to tell you if they are leaving so you don't have to go through five minutes of awkward "Bueller? Anyone?" towards the end of the night. People will be more likely to do that if they can see their place in the list and find out if they will be able to sing before the time they plan to leave. Karaoke software will usually let you see the timing of when each person in the list is up.
Also, people who submit songs to force their friends to sing them are annoying. Don't let people do that. Yet another reason to hard-enforce the 'one slip per person' rule. If you catch people doing this, tell them not to. It drives me seriously crazy because people think they know which songs their friends know, but they don't, and you end up with the karaoke track playing while the person flails around confused.
In terms of the venue setup: 2-3 mics, monitor with lyrics for singers, and it's also good to have a big screen behind the singer so the audience can see. Make it incredibly obvious where to get song slips, where to put them, and where to find the song book. Don't make it difficult for singers to get to where you submit slips (one bar I go to has it confusingly set up so that you have to walk across the stage, i.e. behind the current singer, in order to hand a slip to the MC).
posted by capricorn at 8:17 AM on December 14, 2015
I have always appreciated KJs that enforce a one-song-at-a-time in the queue policy. That means that you can put in a song, get up and sing it, and only then can you put in another. Some people will turn in a new slip as they come up and sing, which works out just fine.
Also, please have songbooks by song title AND by artist.
posted by juniperesque at 9:30 AM on December 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, please have songbooks by song title AND by artist.
posted by juniperesque at 9:30 AM on December 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
My favorite karaoke night had a KJ and a hype guy. He'd dance, high-five the singers, sing backup occasionally. It's random, but it worked really well and got people excited.
posted by lunalaguna at 10:37 AM on December 14, 2015
posted by lunalaguna at 10:37 AM on December 14, 2015
I think the most important thing is keeping a good rotation going. My favorite karaoke bar has a queue system where new singers are added to the end of the rotation and the order is otherwise kept the same. This is helpful for both fairness and knowing when you're going to sing next (if I start after Johnny, I know I'm after him all night). If singers turn in multiple slips, they both get added to the queue under their name but they don't get extra singing time for doing so.
Things that are absolutely obnoxious:
1. Allowing the same people to sing multiple songs before other people get a chance to sing.
2. Losing slips
3. Not enforcing some form of rotation
4. Not keeping it fun. Some karaoke places have an oppressive atmosphere where if you aren't perfect they don't want you around.
5. Letting huge groups up to sing (more than say, 4 people). They're always blitzed and it never ends well.
posted by zug at 10:51 AM on December 14, 2015
Things that are absolutely obnoxious:
1. Allowing the same people to sing multiple songs before other people get a chance to sing.
2. Losing slips
3. Not enforcing some form of rotation
4. Not keeping it fun. Some karaoke places have an oppressive atmosphere where if you aren't perfect they don't want you around.
5. Letting huge groups up to sing (more than say, 4 people). They're always blitzed and it never ends well.
posted by zug at 10:51 AM on December 14, 2015
My friend runs the monthly Rock Band DC night at Atlas Arcade, and while it's not strictly karaoke, the one thing we like to do is notice any newbies and encourage them to join in. In my experience here in DC, most people go in groups, so we try to be as non-cliquey and inclusive as possible.
posted by evoque at 12:33 PM on December 14, 2015
posted by evoque at 12:33 PM on December 14, 2015
I go to a night that's been going on for years and has a pretty loyal crowd. Things that make it good:
- Clap enthusiastically for everyone, especially new people, it's supposed to fun.
- The rotation is run as zug describes, you show up and put your name in and you're in the rotation, it'll flip back around eventually and incorporate new people. The host is really transparent about doing this.
- Part of the queue rules is that if you sing once in a rotation, that's it, that's your turn, so you can't jump in to do a duet or sing backup with a friend.'
- There are themes, announced in advance. Usually it's stuff like 80s night, 90s night, songs from the year you graduated high school, etc. etc. If people really can't do a theme, or have just walked into the bar and want to sing, better to sing off theme than not at all. There's a week with no theme about once a month or so but honestly the theme nights tend to be better-attended.
- On quieter nights if there are OK numbers and we've gone through the rotation a couple of times, the host will do something he calls "shotgun karaoke". Everyone who wants to participate puts a really well-known song on a slip, and when your name comes up, you pull a slip and you have to sing that song. You can sing something else by that artist if it's one you genuinely don't know. Song choices really have to be policed so that it's ensured the songs are the kind of thing anyone would know. This doesn't happen often (it's nice to keep it as a special thing, not an all the time thing) but it's a good way to get people to stick around later and is super fun.
posted by SoftRain at 6:06 AM on December 15, 2015
- Clap enthusiastically for everyone, especially new people, it's supposed to fun.
- The rotation is run as zug describes, you show up and put your name in and you're in the rotation, it'll flip back around eventually and incorporate new people. The host is really transparent about doing this.
- Part of the queue rules is that if you sing once in a rotation, that's it, that's your turn, so you can't jump in to do a duet or sing backup with a friend.'
- There are themes, announced in advance. Usually it's stuff like 80s night, 90s night, songs from the year you graduated high school, etc. etc. If people really can't do a theme, or have just walked into the bar and want to sing, better to sing off theme than not at all. There's a week with no theme about once a month or so but honestly the theme nights tend to be better-attended.
- On quieter nights if there are OK numbers and we've gone through the rotation a couple of times, the host will do something he calls "shotgun karaoke". Everyone who wants to participate puts a really well-known song on a slip, and when your name comes up, you pull a slip and you have to sing that song. You can sing something else by that artist if it's one you genuinely don't know. Song choices really have to be policed so that it's ensured the songs are the kind of thing anyone would know. This doesn't happen often (it's nice to keep it as a special thing, not an all the time thing) but it's a good way to get people to stick around later and is super fun.
posted by SoftRain at 6:06 AM on December 15, 2015
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1. Make sure the words are REALLY easy to see and read.
2. Manage the list. One person commands the list and you ruthlessly alter it based on who should go when (if it's competitive). Don't let the regulars dominate, signing up over and over.
3. Make sure you have a wide wide bevy of songs available. It doesn't actually have to be deep, you don't need every Merle Haggard song. But you do need both Merle Haggard, and the Cure, and Ricky Martin.
4. Make sure the choices are clearly laid out and the way people request songs is very clear, not like a slip of paper with random numbers and a name on it (if you can help it)
5. Controversial one: make it a contest with 2 prizes going out at the end of the night. 1 for Best Singing and the other for Best Performance. Winner gets a free drink or 2 at the next show (or right away).
6. Also give out a few drinks during the course of the show to amateurs that really bring it hard despite not being very good singers. That's the spirit you want to encourage.
7. Drink specials for the first 1/2 hour. Did I mention how important drinking is to this activity?
8. The host should sing as few songs as possible BUT if they are ready to THROW DOWN in a performance they should always go 2x at least if it will set the tone. Not to show off vocal ability but loosen people up by standing on tables.
9. Stage. No sitting in seats singing. That is bullshit.
10. If you want to do a theme, great . "80s Karaoke Night" etc. But create a built in release valve for people to go around the theme "Time for Flash Forward, some songs not from the 80s, next up is Kevin with Unbreak My Heart"!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:35 AM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]