Karaoke Forums

Ever had the misfortune of KJ/DJ'ing and have a kncokdown drag-out bar fight erupt? Im talking tables knocked over, chairs throw, people getting popped, etc etc.
We had one tonight where I KJ(Flipper knows the place) and it was the wild wild west.

So having posed the scenario..........what if anything have you done when one of these take place. On this night I called 911 to have cops dispatched. I made the mistake ONE TIME of trying to play the door muscle and escort a troublemaker out. Got popped in the face as a result. I simply will not step into the middle of a fight again. Im not bonded as security, not trained, too old, etc etc and have no desire to get my azz kicked, jaw broken or injured and I dont carry barfighting/assault insurance.

So..........what have all you experienced?

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

I've never had a fight at karaoke but I've experienced a few on live band gigs.  There's not a lot you can do except to try to protect your equipment.

You certainly don't want to hit anybody because that opens you up to a lawsuit.

There was a time when bands played the Star Spangled Banner to break up fights.  But there doesn't seem to be quite as much respect for that anymore.  That's kind of a sad commentary on the times we live in.

Larry

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"Life is too short for diet soda and lite beer"

Yeah, I immediately announce over the PA that the police are on their way then try to protect my equipment!! We have some sort of skirmish about every month and a half or so. It is always chicks who start the fight THEN the guys jump in...

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C Mc
KJ, FL

We don't have a lot of that stuff happen.  Usually it's defused before it get's outta hand. But, if it does get that far and it looks like it's not too much of a fight and it also looks like the bar is able to handle it I keep the music going and the singers singing.  If it looks like all H@!! is begining to break loose, I stop the music and get on the mic and begin talking to those who are fighting telling them how sorry they are for enterrupting all these people from having a good time.  I might even start making fun of them.  Before long the crowd gets into it too.  Hard to fight somebody else and be serious when the crowd is laughing at you.

Stating that the police are on way tends to break things up a little also.

Kelly

Oh I can just hear a fight break out at a Karaoke bar:
Person no.1-"you American Idol wannabe"
Person no.2-"you Starsearch reject"
1-"You sound like Willie Nelsons momma"
2-"Well you sound like Cher's bodyguard"
1-"Well you sound like Lionel Richie's limo driver"
2-"Well you sound like Bob Dylan's guitar tech"
1-"Well you sound like Dolly Partons cat caught in a washer"
2-"Well you sound like Celine Dions nose doctor"
1-"Well you sound like George Bush trying to do MC Hammer"
2-"Well you sound like Cindy Laupers vocal coach"
1-"Well you sound like Ashlee Simpson, with her fingers caught in the car door"
2-"Well you sound like Rosanne Barr's maid with a head cold"
1-"Well you sound like Kris Kristoffenson trying to sing opera"
2-"Well you sound like Wynonna Judd"
1-"you think so?"
2-"I know so"
1-"Cool, you wanna beer"
2-"Sure, why not"

James
Maninblack

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I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

for liability reasons I do not get involved. The bar staff is well versed in what to do and it is their call.

The only time I would step in is if the bartender (female) was in trouble and it was obvious that she was in danger of injury....then I would start kickin' arse. (Never had this happen yet) I think guys are smart enough to know if they hit a woman that every guy in the bar would be lining up to take a shot at him, and then they would call the police after the last one in line was done.

I normally shut the music down and attempt to secure the equipment and monitor the situation.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Only had 2 fights at my shows in the years I've been doing this, but the good ol' fashioned mic-in-the-speaker feedback at high volume worked pretty good to stop everyone intheir tracks.  

BTW this also works pretty good at closing time when the drunks refuse to leave!

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

Now that is a DAMN good idea.  I am gonna try that next time for me.

About once every 1-2 months there is a fight that breaks out at one of the bars I gig at.  The only time I get involved is if somene gets to close to my equipment when fighting.  THen I usualy put em in a head lock, and escort them out the door.  Making sure to be careful not to ram thier head into the door jambs on the way out  :wink:  If the fight is no where near my equipment, I just go on about my way, and let the bar staff handle it.

First thing I do is start playing the music like Rebel Rouser - Duane Eddy or some upbeat surfing song, then I start doing a play by play commentary over the mic.








Nah, we generally don't get too many problems anymore.  Last real fight was about a year ago, a couple people scuffled enough to fall into a table & knock it over loaded with drinks.  Security came & got them out pretty quick.

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

All the places I've played, call the cops right away. Then some will try to stop the fight, but most will just work to protect the other patrons. I have helped when it looked dangerous for the inocent patrons or bar staff. Not much worried about injuries, been in a few knock-down-dragem out fights myself in my Navy years.. But mostly I protect the equipment and have done the feedback thing. Works pretty good some times. But not always.

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"Real life doesn't start untill the music plays." LSK.

And you didn't call me........ why? Nothing makes the night more interesting than seeing a good ol' bar brawl.  :whistle:

And, Kurt, this IS the wild wild west, crazy people here just do things like that.  :D

I've seen a couple at Denny's, one was a pretty bad one.... had a face smashed into the brick wall and all that stuff. I've thought a couple times I was gonna see my hubby in one, but that's never happened. (well, except with me... and I always win..)  haha- kidding. And I was at the Wild Hare once and saw a pretty bad one there. It was over a girl- naturally. My sis was singing at the time, and she just kept on singing her song... they had a pretty tough bouncer there... and it didn't take him much time to get the instigator on the floor until the cops came. Denny's though... they have all women bartenders, and one guy bartender who is almost my size... so Denny's fights could easily go pretty far before our lazy local cops get there.

Yikes, don't ever step in yourself, let the bar handle it... that could get ya in trouble. Physically or legally either one.

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Oh boy have I seen bar fights. One time it was just me and the female
bartender. She was dragged out the door and was being attacked. This is a
big reason why a bartender should never step out from behind the bar. In my experience bar owners usually do not want the cops called, but if it's bad enough you bet I'll be on the phone. Being on stage you see the whole bar and can usually see somethings brewing before it gets bad. I will call the bar owner to the stage if this happens. If fists are flying I announce on the mic the cops have been called. Although they haven't been. I haven't had these kinds of problems in a long time. The bar has a better clientel now. Plus the bar owner has gotten very good at diffusing the problems quicker.

I love the idea of creating loud feedback to get their attention. Great idea!

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

How many of these fights are actually related to it being a karaoke night?   How many are just related to A**holes being drunk?    How many could have been prevented by practicing crowd control, with the song selection and or the songs  allowed to be sung.

[highlight=crimson]Maybe a slow song injected by the NON singing KJ[/highlight], could have calmed the situation, before hand.

Or maybe not, i've seen fights breakout before during slow dances.

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

I did have a situation one where about 75 gays were on one side of the bar facing off about 75 non-gays. The mgr immediately got on the mic and announced if there was any trouble they would all be 86'd.  

In colorado (or at least in our town) any disturbance has to be phoned in If anybody gets hurt in any way  in a bar the emt's have to be called within 3 min or the bar can lose its license and the person hurt can sue the bar..

 It is known around here if any gear is broken there will be small claim court summons ... The days of bar brawls are becoming a thing of the past as I remember them  Whew!!!

Years ago, it was very common to have bar fights at karaoek.  NOT mine, but at many of my competition.    I still say it has to do with the KJ.  What you will and will not allow to happen.   Swearing and songs that have violent content do not help you to keep any type of control.    The music played determines the behavior of the crowd to a very large percent.   Look at a punk concert.  Ever see anyone in the crowd in front of the stage doing STUPID stuff?  The mosh pit, mentality.  And they aren't in a bar.   Your karaoke has the potential to turn into a mosh pit, if you insist on playing that type of music.   Start playing all rap music and see what happens.      I understand that I have used some extreme examples here, but it still comes down to [highlight=crimson]you[/highlight] controlling the crowd, with the musical content.   I am not saying, I have never had a fight, but they have been almost non existant.

It's still going to hurt your reputation.  Yeah, we quit going to So & So's karaoke, too many fights.    Do what you want, but I don't have, nor will I ever have that reputation.

Yeah, a slow song could.  If someone is playing grab a**, with someone elses A**.

Sorry Bigdog, I don't buy that.  Having been to many a bar fight in a professional law enforcement capacity as well as being in bars where karaoke or other music, be it band or DJ, the music seldom, if ever, is a cause of fights.  The majority of fights fall into three catagories, the first two are related, girl jealous of the attention boyfriend is getting or vice versa, and the drunk hitting on a person who is with someone else.  The third is the obnoxious drunk, male or female.  I have never seen a fight due to the music being played.  Unless a bunch of racist songs are done in the wrong neighbourhood, if you get my drift.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Yep, the only time we ever had real 'fights' is back between '92-'96 when we allowed all music regardless of lyric content.  The bar owner & manager got sick of it - younger college crowds, buy a pitcher between a table never tipped, always sang the F-bomb songs (well not sang them, screamed them at that part of the song)!  They asked me at that time for a trial & to pull all music with ANY kind of profanity in the lyrics & at that time any hard rock & metal (even the hair bands) since these are what the trouble makers were singing.  I fought them claiming it would screw the crowd & we would lose customers - which we did, what I didn't expect was a better clientelle, slightly older, behaved, there to sing, SPENT MONEY & tipped well.  I quit fighting the rule after I saw the turnaround, never looked back since & still no profanity in the lyrics or hard core rap.  Although I did get the harder rock & metal back.  Rarely get any fights, & the ones that do pop up are quickly settled down.

Although like Tim said, other things can contribute & it doesn't have to be music related in any way nor could any song calm down a situation if one is brewing.

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

One of the biggest fight starters here is allowing gambling on the pool tables.  Of course the biggest is caused by drugs...We have started karaoke in many hard core bars and by getting rid of the drugs it totally turns the place around A karaoke crowd tends to be more mellow and happy