Karaoke Forums

I had one of the busiest nights ever at my karaoke show last Saturday with about 220 standing room only patrons crammed into our 6,000 SF bar. The night as a whole went really well, and the majority of patrons were dancing in the aisles.

With big crowd comes big wackiness, however! Two groups of peeps in particular were REALLY trying my nerves.

First, there was a wedding that decided that my show was going to be their reception. Of course, I wasn't let in on this particular bit of important information. They didn't discuss or plan with the bar or myself; they just showed up. It was a party of about 35, complete with the bride in her wedding dress and groom and wedding party in their formal wear. They had already decided that I was going to stop my show to complete some of their wedding activities and play them some special songs. Of course, they weren't going to pay me, or even tip me. They also decided that they needed preferential treatment in the karaoke order, again, with no pay or tips. Talk about entitled! The bar was already slam packed when they showed up, with a karaoke list about 22 deep. I was very nice and told them that I would be happy to play them a couple requests, but I was not going to change the format of my show or basically turn my show into their personal reception when none of this had been discussed or payed for. They stomped their feet and pouted a little, but ended up resigning themselves to my rules and ended up having a good time.

But wait...it gets better! There was also another party of about 30 that came in as a "celebration of life" for a friend of theirs that died recently. Again, unannounced, nothing planned with the bar or myself. They also asked for a few favors, and I was happy to oblige to an extent with a few filler song requests and a quick toast. No one decided I needed a tip for taking care of their special requests, either.

At about 1:10 (I play until 1:30), a guy from this party comes up and asks me to play a raunchy heavy rap song. I play hip hop and rap as filler in my show, but there is a line that me and my owner do not want to cross, and this one was WAYYY over the line. I explained to him that I did not have the song to play. He pleaded, but eventually gave up and walked off. From there, THREE MORE guys from this party came up to me, one at a time, progressively more aggressive, demanding this song. I was pretty level headed with each guy, and told them again that I DID NOT have the song, as it did not fit my format, and the bar owner did not permit me to play the more hardcore rap. THEN, sister of the deceased came running up and started SCREAMING at me that I needed to play this song as a tribute to her dead brother, and going on and on about how much money they were spending in the bar and how they were going to leave if I didn't play this song. I was still pretty calm in my tone, but I had had it. I basically told her that if she needed a raunchy hardcore rap song to memorialize her brother, and that was the only one that would do, I wouldn't be able to help her. I was happy to play "a" song for her, but I could not physically play "that" song, as I didn't even have it! She screamed some more and called me some choice names, then went back to her table and declared that they were all leaving immediately. About 10 of them did, the rest must have been having a much better time, because they stuck around.

Anyway, I was having a great time myself until about that 1:10 mark. As we all know, there is a bit of "babysitting" to be expected once the crowd grows to a particular size and people start to drink too much, so I don't worry too much about things like what happened with the wedding party, but the second group really pushed me too far!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Maybe you should have demanded cake!

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

No... with my diet... strippers would have been better!

I've noticed the bigger the crowd the less tips. The rowdier too lesser the tips.

Oh yeah! I agree, that would be better. Stripper jumping out of a tall cake. Yummy!

Kiddin’ aside, I applaud TopherM, my hat is off to you sir for standing your ground & not be intimidated (except tipping which I consider optional, not mandatory - but greatly appreciated).

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I definitely consider tipping optional as well, but a group also can't ask me to jump through hoops for them all night for free either. There definitely comes a point where it becomes rude to ask the KJ to take special care of you without it being reciprocal!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

What nightclub?

Considering my rant, I'd rather not say Robin, are you from the Tampa Bay area?

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Yes. Send me a PM, I'll come out and see your show.