Karaoke Forums

I cater to the 21 to mid 30's party crowd.

I understand there are different karaoke crowds, and i'm not trying to start a pissing match over what crowd is the 'right' crowd to cater to, or which one is the best.. just thought it would be interesting to hear what crowd everyone caters to, and what they like about those crowds, and what they dislike about them.

So with that said.. here's my 'The Good/The Bad' list for the 21 to 30's party crowd.

THE GOOD:

They (for the most part) don't take karaoke very seriously, they come out to drink, have fun, maybe make some bad decisions in the parking lot after the bar closes or play a little sexual roulette now and then.

They like to hear dance songs throughout the night. They might not have the courage to sing a song by themselves, but after a few more beers, manage to get all their girlfriends up to sing 'Red High Heels' or 'Before He Cheats'.

They don't blow a gasket if a strict rotation isn't followed, and they don't mind if the new guy gets to sing a song out of turn. They go to bars 2 to 3 nights a week, and they drink while they're there and usually come with friends.

They could care less if they're spitting into or dropping a SM58 or a $19 Radio Shack mic. They don't notice what brand of speakers you have.

All in all, just a mostly laid back atmosphere.

THE BAD:

Little more drama follows the younger crowds.. Sally's boyfriend got caught doinkin' Kelly in the bathroom.. now Sally wants to beat up Kelly.

Younger crowd tends to be a little more rambunctious, so a doorman/bouncer is generally required.

Sometimes they like things a little TOO loose and free form. It would actually be easier to plug the slips into the computer and have the computer tell me who's up next.

I think my "sweet spot" if you will is in the 25-45 age group. A little more mature than those that have just figured out they can finally drink legally. Maybe a some that are a little more serious about karaoke but still out to ultimately have a good time. They generally don't get into many fights, are for the most part respectful and really just want to party. They like to come up in groups but don't typically act like complete bafoons when doing so (i.e. giggling, falling all over each other, barely even attempting to actually sing the song).

The downside is, especially on the older end of the spectrum, it's harder to keep these folks in the club all night. Either they come a little later or leave a little earlier than the younger crowd. They also typically get distracted by what's on TV from time to time.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

We have a 21 to 91 crowd with the main group being in their 40s to 50s. I like the variety and the general lack of the afore-mentioned "drama." The drinking is more responsible but that makes it hard on the till. We do have "waves" where the older ones leave around 10 and we can find ourselves almost empty at 10:30 and then get in a new wave of younger people who want to stay later. The guy in his 90s is usually there the full 5 hours, however. He stays sober and drives the young ones home. I would like to hear some newer songs but the best we do on rock is usually 90s while they will do brand new country like Zac Brown, Little Big Town and Billie Currington.

Sound wise we can get complaints that it is too loud from some of the older ones. We also had a few complaints about the dance lights. We also had some of the old guard complain that we have attracted rowdies but basically it means lots of hooting, hollering and dancing--no fights and women can and do come in by themselves. We had gradually changed the crowd from all older men singing slow country to more variety in ages and sexes and more dancing. We don't have to play dance songs for dancing as the singers already sing them. As far as mics, even our professional singer doesn't care what mic he uses. He will tell us why the good one is better and then use the cheap one anyway. Rotation is strictly kept by demand.

Next door is the just turned 21 show. We were in there once. It was a one-speaker show turned up so loud you couldn't communicate even with your mouth on the other person's ear. Couldn't understand the singer. There was a lot of rap and after the song the singer might stay up an extra few minutes to do some beat boxing. The crowd loved it rather than resented it. There tend to be more fights over there.

We start a show at a younger type bar next week. We will see what we come up with. Out limited experience has been a great enthusiasm for old and new music with even the youngest doing classic rock. They were really into wearing the wigs and playing with the inflatable instruments which surprised us as we thought they would be sort of aloof about all that. We have noticed that many of the youngsters tell the older singers that "they rock" and are "cool" rather than resent them being there.

Our youngest show group is the 4 to 14 set. What we like about them is they are enthusiastic and all want to sing. They already know how to hold the mic from home karaoke set-ups and they are fairly respectful of the equipment. They could probably sing the songs without the lyrics screens. They also like music as far back as the Beatles/Beach Boys/Michael Jackson. This show is for the Boys and Girls Club and they are taught to be polite. The supervisor puts a perimeter of rubber discs on the floor around our equipment and the kids don't cross it. They are very supportive of each singer.

The drawback is they will pick songs that have already been done 5 times. But they seem to like doing that and all will gather round and sing along. As it is a private type event and not a public one, we allow it. They are karaoke pros--they already know to say, "Can you move me up? My mom is here to pick me up and I have to leave soon."

I get everything. Early twenties and up.

Because my crowds are more diverse I don't believe I get a true feel for what just one age group is like. I classify groups of people more by behavior or newness to the bar.

I get bad and good behavior from all age groups. Newbies, drunks and divas are the worst at any age.

All different kinds of songs are sung, but I'd say the younger groups are more apt to sing current songs.

Some nights I'll get more of one age group then another, but I can't say I like one more than another.

The good: A diverse crowd gives me a little of everything. A variety of songs and personalities. I never just get a group of twenty somethings on beer training wheels. Most of the twenty somethings that come in are serious about singing and have a bit more respect for karaoke. (Not all, but most)

The bad: With having more serious singers sometimes means less serious drinkers. Serious karaoke people sometimes can be more demanding.

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

I notice you put that under "The Good". ...

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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. ♥

Okay--just did the first night at a new venue with a younger, more urban crowd than we are used to. Wondered how our song books that cater to an older Honky Tonk crowd would be received so made sure to point out our request list. What did the youngun's request that we didn't have? Songs from Grease and more Elvis than the 500 plus songs we already have!!!

Books: With the older crowd they come back in pristine condition. May have to replace a pen a week. With the new crowd most of the books came back with no pens or slips left. And slips? They didn't know about those. Must be used to computer shows. Also had drinks spilled into the page protectors. They liked to sit with a book and read it all night so will need more books. But they were more receptive to taking one of our business cards so they could read the song list on line than the older crowd is.

Enthusiasm: Cheered every singer. About had my neck broken with all the hugging going on at the end of the night.

Songs: Mostly the same stuff with a bit more Headbangers and alot more Reggae. No Lady Gaga but one Alicia Keyes. We were shown some Elvis tatoos. Didn't have a lot of country done but the 90s rock was pretty much the same. Plus a request for more Jewel.

We start another one in a younger yet more rural bar tonight. Was told they lean toward Hip Hop. Ought to be interesting.

heck yeah......those amatuer videos takes.....sell like hot cakes.....

Congrats LL....sounds like a FUN night!

pretty much in line.....

I prefer a paying crowd.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I don't care what age group it is. Cheese hit it about the maturity level but I've seen both groups, seen them mixed. Mixed works as pointed out, young 'uns tell the golden oldies "good job".

If I could choose my age crowd, I would want it mixed. A good mix of older and new songs too, not necessarily old song by older singers and so on. Honestly, in my experiences, mixed is better.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I prefer a crowd...that doesn't take a smoke break when I sing!


[schild=4 fontcolor=000000 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]Hey! Smoking's bad for you! Stay inside![/schild]

Old crowd, because they're most likely to pay.

Maturity level is sometimes but not always correlated with age.

I have a semi-regular who gets very drunk and needs to be told to sit down or leave often, and he is in his late 40s. On the other hand I have a couple of 21 year olds (who I now realize were showing up pre 21) who were serious singers, respectful and good.

Generally if you get a big enough group of 21-22 year olds to get drunk together expect chaos, but individually one or two will often behave well.

Most of my crowd is in the mid 20s-40s range, and some of the younger 21-22 people who do show up are on their better behavior because they don't want to loose crediblity with several older people who are in the local music scene and at the show.

I like a mixed crowd just because if you don't like one thing, something new will be up in 4 minutes. But we started yet another new place last night at a venue we were told leaned toward Hip Hop.

They had us start too early for their target group and we only had a few singers for the first hour so we were filling in. Our friends, the Friday hosts at our venue had come to support us and they are older like we are. And as the owners were. We took our cue from all of the Merle Haggard posters on the wall and tended toward country/pop in our selections. Then we decided to give it a break and wait for some more singers and the boyfriend let the bumper music play. He has a wide selection and a Frank Sinatra song came on. The owner said that she would rather put on the jukebox than have that run off her customers and suggested maybe we should be scheduled from 4 pm to 7 for the "older crowd." But we decided to see what happened for the rest of the night and take our cue from there as far as future scheduling.

Around 9 the younger crowd started getting off work and filtering in. We soon had people doing Alice in Chains which thrilled the owner. We ended up with a good crowd and they told the owner to please bring us back but starting at 9 as most worked in restaurants and couldn't get off earlier. We got compliments on our system and they thought our older friends rocked. Some of the younguns sang Frank Sinatra and Patsy Cline, by the way, and everyone was cheered and encouraged. But that "Maybe we should have you start at 4 for the older crowd" comment still stings.......

as apposed to the free water and prune juice crowd?.....

How many people constitute a crowd anyway?.... .....any crowd is a good crowd as compared to some of the customer counts I've seen in some places....

A good crowd for us is when the bar can pay us and expenses and still have some left over. And numbers don't always count, depending on what they are buying.

One more observation of Young:Old--At our older show singer time on stage is sacred. Any "helping the singer" had better be well-coordinated and agreed upon ahead of time. Anyone who tries to "help" otherwise is probably a rarity and is a drunk who won't be an asset. The extra mics need to be off.

At the younger show, the crowd will gather around the stage and shout out fill in parts. The singer is likely to motion for some to come up and help. They will do a perfect back and forth with the various parts. Then, the crowd will tell them how awesome they were rather than gripe that someone just got extra singing time.

My feelings (and experience) exactly.

Sums it up perfectly. Thanks LL.