Folks, thanks for all the thoughtful replies. However, I think many of my remarks were misunderstood so I will address a few. The main point I was making was that if I don't get to sing at all because of whatever queuing reason, it is irrelevant to discuss how I might introduce people to karaoke etc. They won't get to sing either, even if they wanted to. We are just being used as 'listeners' to pander, in some cases, to a failed club act with mates posing as karaoke. We now avoid those altogether. If I don't sing, it's not karaoke - it's me listening to a club act.

As to noise levels, Johnny, I wasn't referring to singing. It should have been clear I was referring to my time when NOT singing. If I can only listen I might at least enjoy talking at the table, but with excessive noise levels that's impossible. So basically my choice is either to sit & pretend to listen with cotton in my ears or walk. Nowadays we walk & do other things.

I'm not exaggerating the queue thing. If there are 20 singers listed before the 1st song starts that will be a very long round. If the next round is 'one old one new' that will blow out to at least 40 even with attrition. 60 singers is a huge number (& that's only rounds 1-2) and a lot of sitting at a table. I might as well go to the films, ballet, or country music night. It is not a participative event for me, hence not karaoke.

Few of those issues apply to medium size and/or well-run shows. I assume many hosts who reply have the luxury of reasonable queues, minimal saboteurs, and different shifts of attendees (early, mid evening, and late-nighters). Even with huge venues like Chats Friday there are remedies: I can cope with loud noise with earplugs (as I did for the entire South Aus visit). I can cope with queues by coming early. But sometimes, as in the Hunter, the combination is just too much.

My reason for posting it here is that some things can only be changed by consumers. We can't rely on hosts or venues for everything. We have to take some responsibility. We are the karaoke 'culture'. If we bring along a table full of people to 'get up & have a go' when there is already an immense queue there will be a consequent long, long, long wait. If we encourage everything that breathes to have a go there will be a consequent risk of boring others to tears and losing some potential karaoke singers. If we rev up the noise there will be consequent deafness ... etc. There is no free lunch.
Submitted by Tom on 17-09-2007

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