Karaoke Forums

you know, it's weird / wild

personally, i can't remember any karaoke night that i've hosted that DIDN'T end on a so-called 'right' karaoke song.

like, every single show i do/done for over a decade, always ends on the 'right' or decent karaoke song. and my shows are spontaneous.

or my karaoke nights typically ends on the so-called 'right' note. like, the last singer/last song always provides that genuine closure, provides that moment of coming full circle. and it's never planned.

can y'all relate out there? it's something i've noticed/marveled at, recently. even sometimes the crowd will chime in and say, "no, we can't end like that..." and they're usually right. i'll put up one more singer, and that final singer will end the night perfectly--everything comes full circle.

btw, nothing against it, but i'm not one of the KJs who plays a final song to end karaoke. my shows typically ends on any random singer getting the last word. and it's never an awkward ending. even if it's that person's first time singing all night or they're a karaoke virgin. it always just seems to end on the right foot.

do karaoke shows end on a bad note? and i don't necessarily count karaoke nights where there's a fight that kills the show or you know an unforseen disaster. i'm talking about a typical karaoke night. they seem to typically end with closure, no?

Why don't you give it a rest.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I would ALWAYS plan for the closing song to be a GROUP EFFORT that would include everyone in the crowd and as many onstage as possible.....usuallly have group sing of "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS" so everyone goes home feeling happy and content.

Semisonic - Closing Time.

red peters - get the F out! great song everyone loves it and they leave when i play it.

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It's all good!

me too, and sometimes i put up the karaoke version of it for some of the regulars to sing. nothing beats a VFW full of 70 somethings telling you to get the f*** out!

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

I think it's important for a night to have a specific, definitive end. I don't care for nights that stop and start with false finishes. To that end, I always finish my nights with Sinatras' "My Way". I like the song, it has a certain relevance for me, it's a crowd pleaser that the audience likes to join in on and once I sing it, they know that's it. Time to go home.

We almost always finish with a group song... The last two evenings ended with "The Weight" by The Band, and The Foundations "Build Me Up Buttercup". I'll sometimes throw in the Roy Rogers theme "Happy Trails" or an edited version of The Spaniels' "Goodnight Sweetheart".

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

So many, Lion Sleeps Tonight, Papa Was A Rolling Stone long song but they can pass mics' around , Bohemian Rhapsody if no one has sang it, are a few others. If no one wants to get up then I sing Bocelli's Time To Say Goodbye in Italian.

Then I'll play 3 dance tunes while I'm cleaning other stuff up. After that with a loud voice 'Money for the Jukebox'.

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You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

I end with whoever gets the last song. Part of it is because I pretty much am not in the rotation at the time, the other part if it's a new singer is that it gives the new singer a chance to sing. I try to give anyone who wants to sing a chance to sing. My requests cut off is basically for singers who have already sang during the night. I will keep the rotation open for singers who haven't sung until there's absolutely no time left.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I have a singer that comes in late (after Midnight, I close out at 1A) because of his work and I will sometimes get him up for the closing song that no one has a problem with even if it is not his turn, probably because everyone loves it and the girls will dance to it, Los Lobos' La Bamba. The singer is from Peru.

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You can never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind ----B. Joel
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence ---- E.A. Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity ----E.A. Poe
I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! ----A. Einstein
Double bubble, toil and trouble ----W. Shakespeare & Walt Disney
I hate it when I get on FaceBook ----Me
Karaoke might be Groundhog Day ----?
Of All the Martial Arts, Karaoke Inflicts the Most Pain ----?

For my part, I just couldn't do that. When I tell a singer no, I'm full, it's because I'm full. And after I tell one person I'm full, I tell anyone else who asks that I'm full. Because I'm full.

If the singer who has been there 3 or 3 1/2 hours wants to put in a request, I'll take that request if I still have room for even one more song. How many times they sang before is irrelevant. I am not saving that spot for someone who might walk in later, or who already may be in the room but hasn't put in a request yet. First come first served means something.

From talking to customers, I get the feeling most of them have never been to another show where, if the KJ accepts your request, that means you are singing it. Always. 100%. No exceptions unless the power goes out or the earth opens.

And no matter how late it gets, how close to closing, my regulars with songs in never leave. Because they know if I took their song, they're going to get to sing it without being bumped for any late arrival, not even Prince if god sent him back for one more song. I'd extend the show for Prince and let him sing last, but I wouldn't bump anyone.

My whole premise with the late comer is to give them a taste of singing on my system, one of the best in town, and deciding to come earlier so that they can enjoy singing more than one song. It goes along with my slogan of making regulars out of newbies. Another slogan is once you've experienced my system, you'll never want to sing on any other system, especially after I install my new mixer. For the most part, that late comer is only a late comer once, because they choose to make my show their regular basis show and show up earlier. So basically I usually achieve my goal and my regulars not only understand it but welcome it.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I will accept slips from all until I have enough to hit closing time. If people get there late and are lucky enough to get in before I call no more slips - then they are lucky. Once I call no more - no one puts in a song, old or new singer.
As far as final song, it's whoever is in that closing spot. If I get requests for a group song, then we end with a group song. If it happens I can close out the night - then last singer will be me (usually not though).

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Went to a show the other night(won't go again) where the KJ had 19 singers in the rotation and chose to end the night himself with the 8 minute version of American Pie

I am usually done singing over an hour before shutting down the show so whomever is up at that time is the final singer.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

A little more context here would help -- not saying you'd know any more dsm, I'm just thinking aloud.

Sounds horrible on the face of it, but wait. 19 isn't a bad rotation, but it's nowhere near huge. How many songs had each of those people already done, and how bad were their wait times? (Only getting 1 song in isn't good if the person was there waiting all night for that single turn, whereas "only" getting 1 in is dang lucky for anyone only in the bar one hour or less.) So the extent to which a customer was "inconvenienced" by the host closing the show is relative to many circumstances.

And also for consideration, how much did the host sing that night? Once a rotation? (I have no problem with that, but maybe on this night it was even less, or not at all.) Never, until that last song? Every 3rd song? The host singing to close the show can be totally appropriate or totally inappropriate depending on many factors. (Those who think the host singing even once the whole night are extremists IMHO, and that's a separate debate from this particular case).

And lastly, why does it matter it was a 8 minute song instead of a 4 minute song? What is another 4 minutes in the greater scheme of things? It matters far more to anyone, anyone singing at all, that they sing what they WANT to sing, and not let 240 seconds get in the way of that. As a host I often sing only one song a night, sometimes none, so I don't give a rats patootie if someone else thinks the song I finally got in was too long.

Thank you, Lonman! It's only logical, so I'm amazed by how many don't agree.

I don't stop taking slips 'til I'm full, and then I take no more -- the singers have learned if I accept their request, they can count on singing it.

It's really all about self-determination. How many anyone sings and how long they wait is really up to the singer, their choice to come early, stay late, and turn in songs when they do. How full the night gets is only one factor, and again that's not up to the host -- we'd all have full nights every night if it was up to us. Management of the rotation is really an oxymoron, because it isn't (or shouldn't) be up to the host. The host who interjects themselves in the natural process, and tries to bend reality to their will, is always going to have problems and headaches with their rotation, and ultimately piss off someone who shouldn't have been given any reason to be pissed off in the first place.

As a customer only, for a decade before I became a host, I saw so many KJ's overthink the "problem" and turn their rotations into a nightmare for their customers by trying to fix what wasn't broken.

It's all about consistency. My singers know that I try to make it so that everyone who wants to sing gets to and if it means that they sing one less song for the night, they are fine with it. The key is that they've already sung one or more songs. I would never replace any singer who hasn't sung yet with a late comer.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I know we've been at this bar singing all night but if we leave now and go to Danny's show down the street; were guaranteed to get in at least one more song because he doesn't care about the people that have been there all night because they have already sung at least one song already. He thinks we'll we'l swap loyalties to his bar from our favorite bar because he let us sing one song. .