quote:Live Band Karaoke Mario: I went down to the Blues Cafe last night to check out this new "live band Karaoke". It was interesting. The singer list was long, the wait, typical of most karaoke waiting lists when a lot of people are signed up. I got there at 9:00pm; they start at 9:30pm. Already the list was long; everybody wants to be a rock star. The quality of singers was pretty good, with only two exceptions; mostly due to too much alcohol. The band, the Maxxtones, was excellent, and a decent buch of guys. Bass, lead, ryhthmn (probably spelled that wrong) and drums. The lead guitarist, whose probably in his early twenties, is one helluva guitarist. His sounds are exact, if not better than, the original players of the songs they do. (you should check out his Pink Floyd outro solo). They do 450 songs! My only problem was the sound. Not the music, the band is on point and they have a soundman. Its the volume of the singer. The audience can hear you just fine, but, on stage, you, as the singer, can't hear yourself that well, so you're not sure of your tone or pitch. Yelling into the mic does NOT help. At the times I could hear myself, I knew it sounded off (I did Comfortably Numb, my signature song). It was a little frustrating to that end.
Also, they had no Alice Cooper on their playlist (but they said they'd learn a few).
As far as the lyrics go on the songs, they have a lyric sheet on a music stand in front of you, but the print is standard type and too small in ratio to the singer Unless you have supervision, or know the song by heart, you have to stand there with sheet in hand and read the words as you sing, which looks awkward, to say the least.. The band, however, is pretty cool and helps you along if you should stumble. If you're unsure when to come in, either in the begining or after music solos, they ease you into it effortlessly. And they provide backup vocals; especially to parts some folks can't hit vocally.
All around, it's a different type of karaoke, tailored for those who want the "live band" effect and feel, feeding the need for on stage rock star semi-statis or reliving teenaged lost band dreams. I'd love to do my Alice Cooper tribrute thing with them sometime.
For myself, it was a pretty cool, if momentary, experience. Yet I think, (and I'm sure Randy will be happy to hear this),I'll stick to the "traditional" karaoke scene. It's a more comfortable fit.
And it has Alice Cooper!!!
Now this goes to show you the kind of respect we do and do not have as hosts of our shows. I remember talking to this establishment, among many others in Newport and they all laughed at me and told me that under no uncertain terms would they ever lower themselves to do karaoke. Yet years later they all have it, in some form or another.
It's kinda ironic that a band would actually want to do karaoke as a gig, for they are IMHO the biggest snobs when it comes to anything that doesn't get actually played, which includes DJ's & KJ's.
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We have a band up here that is actually all karaoke named 'Rockaraoke'. They were built by karaoke friendly 'good' musicians and run their show like a normal karaoke show only with live players. I'm sure there are more bands that do strictly karaoke format as well. I've heard of a couple in Cali as well.
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there's one here in Tampa that does the 'Rock Band' thing. You kinda have to know the lyrics by heart, but if you get messed up, they'll help you out.
Posts: 81 | Registered: Sep 2008
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On Monday nights at the House Of Blues Las Vegas they have Rock Band karaoke. They use a couple of the people who do 80's music called the Spazzmatics to play the instruments. They also have monitors with the lyrics. So it is karaoke with a band.
Posts: 2246 | From: Palmdale, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2001
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There are a couple around Boston. The one I go to does an hour or so of straight karaoke first and then the live band, with about enough time to make it once through their relatively short song list. They have a book with the lyrics on stage. It is a lot of fun.
Posts: 1261 | From: Milton, MA 02186 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Probably the same band that came down to Newport Mark, I think they go by the Maxxtones or something like that. It's just funny that there is no way a band is charging less than $200 to go all over the place to do this stuff, meanwhile us KJ's go through hell to get the catalogs we have and yet we are the one's who are vastly underpaid.
The whole bar scene up in the northeast is so out of touch with reality of the economy and everything. Hence why I think we've seen more ownership changes in bars in the last 4 years than we used to in the past, and none of them seem to know how to keep people interested in coming in to their establishment.
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This group is called Huevos Rancheros. A number of them are into karaoke and sometimes do songs in the regular karaoke part.
In terms of the larger point, this club resembles that. They have one of the longest running karaoke shows around, get decent press and get a decent crowd for Tuesday nights. They have a house system. Up until a couple of months ago they ran karaoke weekly, alternating regular with live band nights with just regular nights. Given that there are some people not comfortable with live band who could get cut out of regular karaoke on those nights if they did not get there early this was an approach that made sense. Now they are down to once a month with dance nights on the other Tuesdays. I don't know how the crowds match up. The karaoke crowd has held up reasonably well, but I would have at least done twice a month with an all regular night.
Another band that did live band at a club around here started with a short playlist of all '80s hair bands ... and a couple of songs from Rent. I suspect that's because the owner 5s a big Rent fan.
Posts: 1261 | From: Milton, MA 02186 | Registered: Mar 2001
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