Karaoke Forums

I started a new show a little over a month ago at this bar located in a small town. It is between 8 and 20 minutes from other larger towns. We started Friday and Saturday nights. The owner and I were both skeptical of karaoke working two nights in a row, but we decided to try both nights and see what happened.

Friday nights have been off the chain. From the very first night, the crowd has way over exceeded our expectations. The problem is that the crowd is younger and they are trouble makers! The staff is so slammed, they do not see or turn a blind eye to customers rolling joints on the tables. Every other Friday, there is a fight. They ripped the bathroom sink from the wall, and they love to carve their names into anything they can.

This crowd has two distinct tenancies. The males seem to sing heavy rock and the females sing a mix of country and Top-40 pop. They all love to dance and their requests are generally all current Top-40 songs.

Saturdays have been MISERABLE.

Word is that some of my older singers are so turned off that they won't go back. Luckily, they like me and my company, so they just go 5 miles down the road to my other show. It concerns me that other would-be customers are also turned off by the Friday night crowd.

I was thinking about changing Saturdays (the slow night) to "Country Karaoke Night". During this night, we would play all country filler music and our dance breaks would be country line dances, etc. (Although, I might throw in The Cupid Shuffle just because of its popularity). I'd also have my KJs wear cowboy hats and maybe even see if the bartenders would do so as well. Also, no songs with expletive lyrics!

Anyone ever tried this? Does anyone have back-to-back shows where one is an older crowd and the other younger?

Thanks

Sounds like your Friday night show is a lot like most of my shows.. younger crowd, with the guys singing heavy rock and the females sing a mix of country and Top-40 pop.. with plenty of 'regular' requests for top 40 dance songs.

One of the four places I play regularly had a problem with assholes beating the (@$%&#!) out of the bathroom walls. A simple sign offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for vandalizing the bathroom put an immediate stop to it.

As to the 'Country Theme Saturday'.. i've not ever tried it. I suppose if the older crowd that left was a predominantly country crowd, you might have a shot.. but don't count on the 'country only' theme from keeping the kids out.

I wouldn't give up on the Saturdays just yet, though.. in my experience, it can take 6 or 7 shows before a new show really gets off the ground and finds an audience and builds a crowd.. especially if the shows aren't well promoted externally.

It sounds like you have a plan but country only might be a bit restrictive as older people will still want to sing different genres. But you could definitely try to steer the people uncomfortable with Friday onto Sats and advertise Sats as "Country and Classics" or something.

We have the same but the opposite direction. Friday is more of a country, classic rock/pop crowd with a pair of long time hosts. We are newer and on Sats and decided to try to bring in a new crowd rather than siphon off the Friday one. So we puposely buy newer songs and have accomodated metal requests, etc. We still get some crossover but our night is a bit livlier. Some of the old guard like it but those who don't stick to Fridays. and those who think Fridays are boring come to us.

We also have a show at an entirely different venue with a much younger crowd. The place used to have a "fight" rep but now has a new owner who has instituted zero tolerance and talks people down or evicts before anything progresses to that. She has been able to change the character so that young people still come in but they have to go eleswhere if they want to cause trouble. She plans to hire a bouncer once she is more established but for now as invited the Sheriff to do walk throughs--many bars don't like the Sheriff making an appearance but she thinks it has helped to make people feel safe. So it CAN be done.

I think I am going to try it. I'm going to talk to the owners today and see if they'd be ok with changing it up. I think that they will because without us, they have nothing on Saturdays (and with us, they STILL have nothing, but they have nothing to lose).

Maybe I'll see about getting a mechanical bull, too. ha ha - KIDDING (but, I wish!)

If I went to an all country karaoke, I would be singing Rehab's Bartender, Fool's Life Sucks, Kid Rock and the Eagles. Most of todays country is light FM music.

I agree. I don't think that I would prohibit any songs like those that you mentioned. I would probably encourage singers to sing something other than Eminem or Godsmack etc. Even then, if it wasn't busy (remember, I am building the show) I would probably not overly discourage them. But, as I said, it would definitely be no expletive lyrics (unless it was REALLY dead).

There's plenty of newer country music that has an upbeat "youth oriented" influence as well. Maybe a list of suggested high energy songs you can label as "ice breakers" or "party starters" in the front of your songbook if you have one or posted somewhere close to the signup area. Sometimes people need to be offered suggestions when it comes to singing their first song.

Sounds to me that the problem isn't with you, but with the bar and their lack of staff and/or security. You are doing your job (getting butts in the seats).

They need to take care of the issues, not intentionally castrate your show to tone down the crowd.