REVIEW: Unexpectedly good

EXCLUSIVE where2sing.com KARAOKE GIG REVIEW

Whilst Wednesdays is a wasteland in Surfers Paradise as far as karaoke is concerned, Thursday is the day of plenty - with the local paper listing half a dozen within easy reach of the centrally located holiday maker.

But it is the Where2sing.com listings that gives the information on which of the half dozen is best attended, and as one keen not to waste my time on the often half-hearted karaoke on offer, I decided on Palm Beach Hotel. And the Palm Beach Hotel sits on the side of the busy Gold Coast Highway about 5 minutes south of Surfers, and so is easily found.

The hotel itself is obviously a long time establishment that has received modernisation, because there's a big deck out the front, and the bar inside is spacious. The characters lounging out the front didn't exactly look like a karaoke crowd, but I could already hear the unmistakable sound of loud off-key singing that drives some away, but which attracts many others.

The serving bar runs up the side of the long room, and I found the service friendly, in a sort of fairly casual Queensland way. The beer price was also friendly.

Where the serving bar ends, the room opens out into a largish area, with the main (and furthest back) part of it raised slightly. The karaoke is set up against the far right wall, the host with his back to the audience, and with the singer just slightly further along the wall and obviously facing everyone. In front of the singer is the traditional monitor on a stand and covered with a black cloth, and behind the singer and up on the wall is a nice big LCD screen. However, the singer in this case was one of those who would have been better enclosed in a shower and within a bathroom.

The host was an older and sturdy gentleman, grey haired but with the look of one who liked the Gold Coast lifestyle, and although he didn't say much, his manner was friendly as he plodded around. His equipment looked simple, but that is probably to say that he seemed very organised. Song slips were tucked between the knobs of the mixer in front of him, and upcoming discs were positioned neatly in order at the back of his large disc case.

Surprisingly small EV speakers were high on stands either side of the singer, and both angled slightly towards the rest of the bar, but the sound was very loud. In fact, it seemed absolutely on the maximum volume that these speakers could handle, and was therefore a little too loud for comfort. And the balance seemed to be rather on the treble side, though there were people sitting a lot closer to the speakers than I, and nobody seemed to mind.

The airconditioning was cold - so cold that I moved a couple of times to find a place that was warmer. Happily, the first singer had been replaced by another who could hold a tune, and after him the host sang - a song that I didn't recognise, but which he sang well. Both before and after his song, the host invited people to sing, and it was obvious that he didn't yet have many requests.

There was a table of half a dozen ladies sitting in front of me, and I guessed they were karaoke devotees. This presumption was soon borne out when one of them sang, and sang superbly. And, indeed, the sound was heaps better, and she received great applause. It was then determined that another lady at the table would sing, but she had obviously not put in the request herself, and was rather hesitant. Hesitant meant that she flat out refused to sing, but after a bit of discussion the cordless mic was brought to her, and she sang - at first reluctantly - from her seat at the table. She was obviously nervous, but actually very good, and definitely a practised singer though possibly not at karaoke. She received a good amount of applause, and one man went over especially to congratulate her.

I decided I should put in a song, and had a look at the songlist on the next table. As soon as I did, the host's helper came over with a few songslips and a pen - now that's the sign of a well-run karaoke. The songlist is extensive, as seems the norm on the Gold Coast, though I didn't see some of the newer songs that I might have expected. Anyhow, even the younger singers here seemed to be choosing older songs, so perhaps they would not be needed for this venue.

'Did you find your Van Morrison?' asked a young guy at the table near me as I was back standing and watching the next singer. Now I recognised him as one of those at a karaoke from a couple of days prior, and who had seen me sing an obscure Van Morrison song from a songlist that held a pile of them. 'No', I told him, 'I was looking for something . . .(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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