Karaoke Forums

My wife and I, along with a fairly large group of friends, went out to eat at a local restaurant.  They also have karaoke there on Thursdays and Saturdays.

I couldn't stay late, but had time to sing one song.  Most people were singing country, and all my friends were prodding me to get on the list.

So I looked through the book and sure enough they had Family Tradition. I remember that oneofakind said it was a crowd pleaser but I was not prepared for what happened next.

I was pretty nervous, and had to block everything out except for the monitor and my voice.  I could swear I was shaking so hard my voice was quivering...

But then the strangest thing happened.  The whole freaking bar started singing along with me... it was the coolest... thing... ever....

After the first chorus I calmed down and when I was done, there were cigarette lighters all over the place and everyone was really whooping it up...I asked my wife if you could tell my voice was shaking and she said no, so I guess it was just me...

Man that was so fun...

Thanks everyone who helped me work up enough nerve to get up in front of people.
All of your kind words really helped boost my confidence.


Heck, next time I might sing 2 songs  LOL

Dude! That's awesome!!
I had almost the same experience the other night.....except some people didn't know the song. (no lighters or huge applause)  
Thursday night, out of town on my job, I finally gained enough strength after my long day of sweatin' it out in 100* temps unloading my semi all day, and driving 455 miles total for the day, to go check out a new place that my favorite kj was at.
I didn't arrive until 11:30 pm though! It was only a couple miles from my hotel, but I had to drive the truck (tractor only), so I couldn't really drink at all. I had 1 beer when I first arrived, but drank Sprite after that.
The 1 beer wasn't really enough to ease the stagefright though. When I finally made it up to sing, I was shaking like a leaf. The mic was literally rattling outta my hand....it was probably hilarious.
And I thought my voice was shaking too.
I did the Soundgarden song "Blow Up The Outside World" without any lyrics to look at and I was scared $h*tless.
I walked away from the monitor, faced the crowd, and let it rip......the whole time hoping like hell I remembered the words. I was trembling so bad, when the heavy part kicked in, I had to hold the mic with both hands to keep from dropping it, closed my eyes, and belted out the high notes like I just fell out of an airplane. I think I scared some older people.
Afterwards, a dude came up and shook my hand and said.....man, you need to do some more Chris Cornell!!
I hate to say it, but, everyone else seemed to be too drunk to sing that night, but that's the fun of it really!! You just have to really wanna be there.....no matter how anyone sounds really.
It was fun....even though I couldn't have more than 1 beer. And I got to see some familiar faces, so, not having enough sleep for the next day of work was not really that bad. I was just dead tired when the truck was empty, and slept for hours before I made it home on Saturday afternoon.
I will never get over my stagefright, but that's the excitement I guess. I think if I ever did get over it, then I'd be full of myself for sure.
Keep singing man! It's worthwhile just to be a part of the scene. And the best part is meeting people that you might otherwise have never made contact with.
Good to hear the night worked out man!

Yea our gig was strange too.. We usually start setup at 6 and start playing low background from 7:30 till about 8 and when we have karaoke requests we go into format and once started high energy no silence fast paced get with it.

My host wanted the night off so another helped setup. It took longer (I thought)mbecause I was telling him things. For some reason at 7p  I thought we were running late and there was a couple regulars chomping at the bit. So with a mic check I sang and away we went. Totally non-stop no silence until midnight. About 9:30 I looked at Mike what the hell time did we start? 7 bar time 6:45.....Between 10 and 12 when the singers came in droves we were both wore out.  LMAO Total teardown and loadup I was dead. But was up at 7 this morn still charged up..

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Yeah!!!! I am glad to hear that you were able to sing in public.. That is awesome.. But beware it can be addictive, especially after getting the response that you did.....

Congrats!!!!

 :hug:

Sharon

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

no doubt, I didn't start singing until I was 30 or so, and my first song sucked!  but all my friends cheered so I knew it would be ok from then on out, and now it is like a drug.  drugaoke

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Congrats ! That is a great story. The more you do it the more you'll get comfortable on stage. Next thing you know you'll be singing with a band.  :hug:

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You know you're hooked when you no longer clench your fists, you no longer rock back and forth, you no longer sing so softly that the KJ gets feed back trying to mix your vocals in enough so that you can be heard.  

Great job, you've taken the first step to being and addict like the rest of us!

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All work and no play make Homer something something

My voice teacher is after me to sing with some live musicians -- she says I am getting good enough to sing for local bands and that it is a whole different experience. There is an open mic night at a local place I might try. I don't know if I have any repertoire that will match theirs, but you never know.

That it just totally awesome.  It really helps not only when you do a crowd song, but you have a crowd that 'really' gets into it.  It is very addicting.  We had the best crownd we've ever had at this place I'm playing at a few weeks back.  I know here comes the stones, but although I had many/many karaoke slips and singers ready to sing....half the bar wanted dance music.  So I played a few and it was time to get back to Karaoke, IMO.  So I thought I'd do 'without me'...used to be one of my staples, but just don't get a chance to practice anymore to keep up with it....but that's another thread.  So I started in right after my last dance song there....Dance floor is jammed packed...it got worse.  I am motioned out onto the dance floor and continue to do the song with some heavy distraction from a few females.  :hi5:   When it was all said and done, my somewhat of a helper (who HATES karaoke, btw) is just shaking his head in disbelief.  A quick..."That's why I love karaoke" shut him up the rest of the night, which was down right awesome.  I got introuble for playing late and had about 30 slips when I finally quit.  It rocked....very, very good weekend!  So you're stuck with the rest of us now...."can't stop!"....MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
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yeah, speaking of those people that kncok or don't "get" karaoke, I did a little show for about 15 people in Dewey Beach, DE at a house I was staying at with my friend last month.  two of the guys (one especially) kept knocking karaoke and making fun of me (not being d-heads though, just funnin').  but when the show started and everybody started having a blast, this guy sang the most! he sucked, but he was hooked, and it didn't matter how bad he was, we all saw how much fun he was having screaming AC/DC and we enjoyed ourselves all the more. everybody sang that night, including 2 who had never sang. one of the guys was real good and didn't realize it, we were all cheering him on. nothing better.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Perfect - open mic night. You'll love it and they'll love you !  :hi5:

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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That's a great idea.  Find a song that a regular group that jams there does,  learn the lyrics to that song.  Go a night and don't sing just to feel it out.  Decide what song you like, assuming the same instrumentalists will be back (or a core group will be back) learn the lyrics to a song they do that you like.  Open microphone nights aren't formal,  nothing is expected to be perfect,  so have fun.  Great start actually !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I was at one of the regular places I used to go to and the audience was kinda dead and the regular good singers weren't there, so my friend who was KJing the gig whispers in my ear a song I've never done at karaoke. From the opening chord, people in the bar perk up and I guess they weren't expecting the particular song choice. I did Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Horror Show and finished with Time Warp. The ladies in the bar were up on the bar dancing, and after the set, people were buying me sodas (I don't drink...diabetes) and saying how much they liked the movie and how they used to go see it. I was a live actor at one of the movie houses that showed RHPS aat midnight...I played Eddie! Since I could do all the different voices in Time Warp (including Columbia's high voice) it added that much more to it. In another show, i was not familiar with the bar or the KJ, but I gave it a try with Turn The Page by Bob Seeger. This was a biker bar and they were pretty much hostile to the singers and the KJ. After I did that song, I got the biggest applause I've ever got.