Charlton’s Karaoke

Charlton’s Karaoke

2nd floor, 2 Coverlid Place, Melbourne

BarAmigo’s two pesos – Karaoke… sing like no one cares cause no one actually cares…

When visited – Wed 25 Jan 2012 11.30pm to 2am and Fri 3 Feb 11.30pm to 2am

Everyone hits up Charlton’s for one thing… Karaoke. Sing your lungs out (if you get a gig) and dance the night away. Fun times… provided you have the requisite amount of alcohol in you.

Charlton's Karaoke on a Friday night... I'm kinda impressed at how well the photo turned out

Don’t expect anything classy at Charlton’s… Karaoke… that’s all you need. The great majority of people are here for Karaoke… and that’s it.

For those of you who aren’t the best singers… no need to worry… I can barely sing and end up screaming into the mic… So you’re all good. Plus, no one else in the public bar cares about how good you are or not. Everyone has had their fair share of drinks and are busy chatting with their friends. Plus the very dark lighting means no one can actually see you up there… throw in a dance floor smoke screen or two and there’s next to no chance of being recognised up there. Unless you hear Living on a Prayer being screamed out which means it’s probably me.

On Australia Day Eve… we hit up Loose Goose, dinner at Chinatown and now karaoke… My song is Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer (yeah I can never go past it). The 3 other songs my 3 friends chose are Coolio’s Gangster’s Paradise, John Farnham’s You’re the Voice and Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh. 4 karaoke classics! Maybe not Gangster’s Paradise but I reckon the other three are 45 minutes in and we’re up… Maybe cause of my friends complaining to the DJ. 3 songs in a row… awesome. We fill the dancefloor with our choices and get the place moving. Gee it’s fun screaming into the microphone…

Dingy lighting... The singer isn't visible but is on the stage under the TV screen on the left... the red lights at the bottom is the step to the stage

Time to rant… If you’re going to choose a song to sing make sure you choose a crowd pleaser… none of this Hotel California 8 minutes stuff…

On a Friday night expect to wait over 2 hours till your song comes up. After dancing for 1.5 hours and various shots we were looking to head elsewhere and gave up.  Why did we hit it up Charlton’s karaoke twice in a week and a half? Trying to recreate our night… mistake as its never as good as the original.

Free entry. Drinks pretty reasonably priced for the city actually. I’d say $7.50 for a standard mixer like scotch and dry or Vodka Soda Lime. Probably the same for a shot. But hey… too busy having fun singing and dancing to worry about the prices.

Who really cares about the crowd? But if you do, it’s a range of mid 20s through 40s. Everyone is here just for singing. Pretty casual attire… jeans and t shirts for guys and jeans for chicks. Never seen Charlton’s really packed out but whenever you get there… make sure you write down some songs otherwise you’ll be waiting even longer.

Charlton’s Karaoke… pool tables are just a distraction… hit it up for karaoke in an environment where everyone is accepted and anything is acceptable. Karaoke, dark lighting, drunk people and dance floor smoke… you can’t go wrong.

Salud
Eddie
BarAmigo – Your friend at the bar

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