Chatswood RSL karaoke

Normally, a review involves spending several hours in a particular venue to get a feel for it - but there are some long-running places which are well-known for providing a consistent experience . . .

. . . and Chatswood RSL just north of Sydney is one of these.
There are two Friday night karaoke venues in Chatswood, one at each end of the station; so when the Orchard Tavern finished at Midnight last Friday, I wandered over to the RSL club. However, if you had arrived at Chatswood station with the sole destination of the RSL, you would go straight through the station and find this noble establishment just a few steps up on the left hand side of the road.

Chatswood RSL is pretty much what you'd expect from a newer club, with a nice entrance and a view through to the bars and inevitable gaming machines. By walking straight through, you eventually come to the auditorium - and this is where Friday's karaoke is held.

It's a large hall with a wide raised section on three sides where those seated at tables have a great view of the big stage, and the more enthusiastic singers sit in the central, lower area. The host, Garry, presides from behind a large console set up on one side of the stage, and somewhat behind the singer.

I have sung here before, and have always found the sound to be excellent, both for the audience and the singer, and the audience is always highly response - something that doesn't always happen in clubs. In fact, most of the audience seems to be there to sing, so there can be quite a wait for your song.

On this night, however, I was at the bar for almost fifteen seconds before Lally was at my elbow. Chatswood RSL is Lally's second home, so hardly surprising to find her in residence, and I had in fact already spotted some of her entourage at a table in the lower middle section of the room. And, being late in the night, the crowd was down to about 50 or so, and I think Lally was happy to have someone new join her table.

A couple of young guys were up on stage doing a song that was giving them some heavy opposition, but winning over the audience with their authentic moves. This is not a place for the over-70 set - in fact it's quite usual to see a couple of tables of much younger patrons, and they do add to the friendly and party atmosphere. I noticed that Garry had his eyes firmly on his two rather nice radio mics, but the boys seemed to be handling them with respect.

Garry is a dominant figure, a man of impressive stature, and the fact that you have to ascend three steps to his part of the stage and look up at him in his seat of power helps that image. King Garry is in charge of the PA and the world in general, with an assistant at his side to do the menial tasks like cue up the next song.Â

And it was when I was again standing at the bar, a few minutes later and waiting in line for glasses to be washed and become available, that I found Garry at my side. He's a avid reader of the W2S Forum, and we discussed a couple of recent posts and a couple of his recent singers, then he dashed off back to his throne to banish one singer and welcome another.

Back at the table the conversation also soon turned to the Forum, two recent contributors being amongst Lally's clan. These tables are big, and always hold spare people to whom one is introduced . . .(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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