REVIEW: Truly grand karaoke

EXCLUSIVE where2sing.com KARAOKE GIG REVIEW

When in Brisbane the previous Monday and with no karaoke in the area, I'd noted that Surfers Paradise seemed to have an excellent venue called The Grand Hotel at Labrador.

Labrador is just north of Surfers, and so close that you're still gazing at the water when the road becomes Labrador and the Grand Hotel appears imposingly on your right. It's a large complex, with a hotel rising above, and restaurants around the base in the side road. Parking is also very easy in the large carpark across the road.

As I walked across the road I could already hear the karaoke, and as soon as I stepped into the bar and saw big, older style speakers sitting on the back of the stage I knew the operator. Indeed, I immediately heard her booming voice 'I want you to give a big hand for so-and-so', because I had last seen her in a worker's pub earlier in the week.

But this is not a worker's bar - indeed, it's at the other end of the scale - and all the occupants are well dressed, mainly couples or small groups who appeared to have come here to eat, drink, and enjoy the night's entertainment.

This bar is a big one, extending far beyond where the stage is set into what seems like the end wall, tastefully decorated and spacious - so big in fact that it seems half empty with the 120+ patrons. There's also plenty of seating at high round tables and stools, and so I install myself at one with my drink.

But not for long, because the singers were good, the sound was good, the host was entertaining, and I was in for the night - and so I went off to find a song from the songbooks tied to the table at near the stage. This is a host who has an excellent song selection, about 12,000 tracks including some very recent releases. If you want a big and modern selection of songs, this is a great host to follow. A girl was already there at the books selecting her song, and we chatted as we made our selection, and then I went across past the stage, and to the console just beyond, to hand in my slip.

The host is a short, sturdy lady with a booming voice that belies her stature, and with an extremely welcoming face. But it was the taller, slimmer lady to whom I handed my slip, and she seemed happy to chat as I'd been to three of her gigs in the last week. She told me that they were shortly to start two more gigs, so I took a moment to remember the details for later listing on Where2sing.com.

Back to my table, and I sat and enjoyed the singers. They were good, but all seemed a little timid in their performances. Even a guy called Triple J, whom I had experienced at other venues with varying degrees of pain, sounded good. This was surprising, because the equipment being run was exactly the same as had been used in venues where I was somewhat critical of the sound. But here it seemed fine, not too much bass, and it filled the room adequately whilst still allowing for conversation.

And even the lady host seemed good, partly because the console was set up in a position where she was side-on to the audience, and therefore we didn't seem to being addressed by a voice coming from a rear end. I suppose what marks out hosts I like is those who spend their time socialising and . . .(full story on where2sing.com)

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