Lincolnshire Arms Hotel

At a roundabout in Essendon, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, is the Lincolnshire Hotel, a modern low and large building that looks every part the local up-market watering hole, and which complements this image with prominent signs advertising the karaoke...

And, after you park your car around the back and make your way to the front of the building, you can see the well-healed clientele inside - well-dressed, well-groomed, and talking with the kind of polite enthusiasm that is, at the same time, polite. I entered at the same time as a couple of guys were leaving, and my 'after you' was met with an 'after you', and a slight hesitation as we worked out who might go first with the correct degree of politeness.
For a sports bar, the place looks remarkably like any other modern and nicely decorated pub, made up of three distinct rooms - the central one into which you first enter, one on the right which continues around the corner of the bar and seems to be serving food ('please wait to be seated' requests a sign on a short pole), and one at the other end of the building in which I could see a karaoke setup and host. The service was friendly and efficient, a nice smile, a courteous question as to my choice of beverage, a thank you for the money, and a thank you with the change. All nice and easy, and a good start.

The host was explaining why he was starting late, and indeed it was more like 10pm, whilst the start was advertised as being at 9:30. Apologies were made, explanations given by way of some recalcitrant equipment, and a little rambling about a competition later in the night, but it all seemed less about explanations and more about a little welcoming speach to the politely attentive crowd. Then we were told that some music would be played, and that karaoke would commence soon.

My database listed the host as Peter of Kayone Karaoke, and this appeared to by such a regular crowd that I felt I had no option but to go up and introduce myself. 'Peter?' I asked, just to be sure. 'Yes' came the friendly answer acompanied by a handshake. 'David' I announced, 'from Where2sing.com'. 'Yes', he said, sizing me up quickly 'I thought it was you.' And he immediately followed with a explanation of how his computer had decided, despite repeated tests during the day which had all gone well, that it would sit out the evening's entertainment on a lower shelf and leave the hard work to the backup single-tray deck. He also explained that it was customary in this venue to start with a bit of music, then get into the karaoke once he had a few singers ready. Then we were joined by a lovely smiling lady who turned out to be Susan, Peter's wife - and here to see a show of his for the first time in a couple of years. This was all very pleasant, and by the way that singers came up and politely asked questions of Peter, this was obviously one of those 'nice and easy' venues.

But my place was within the crowd, and, after a few minutes of chat, I headed back to find a good vantage point.

Although the room was not large, it was well laid out with some high and long tables across its width onto which people could rest drinks, and against which small groups could congregate. Typically, a couple of ladies would sit on the stools next to a table, and their partners would stand next to them. And, all up, this gave about forty people in the immediate vicinity of the karaoke, with another sixty spread throughout the other two rooms. The karaoke was set up along the far wall, the mixing console a little to one side so that the singer would take centre stage (if there had been a stage), with one speaker further across from the singer, and the other speaker a little way down the side wall nearer the host. Behind the singer, and console, was a low and wide section running all along the end wall - convenient as a resting place for songbooks and pens near one speaker, and all the hosts' discs and paraphernalia behind him. And the overall impression was a very neat arrangement, very much in keeping with the neat style . . .(full story on where2sing.com)

Read the rest of this exclusive Karaoke Gig Review, and find whether this karaoke gig is still running on Where2sing.com . . .

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