There's nothing quite like a night out with friends in the privacy of your own karaoke room, belting out ballads in a tuneful albeit raucous manner, or quite possibly murdering a few melodies with a voice like a newborn screaming for its mother.
The karaoke room is one of the few places where you can behave how you like, while playing the tunes you like, at the volume you like. Pushing those lungs to the limit is akin to doing a workout; such a singalong can act like a real stress reliever – unless the quality of your singing stresses your friends out, of course.
It could be the focal point of the whole evening, or a fun start to a night out, or perhaps the place to go to finish off a night on the town.
The song books are as thick as phone books, and a lot more interesting. They're filled with songs old and new so there's bound to be something to suit your taste and style.
Back in the late 80s, karaoke was all about getting up in front of a pub full of drunks, screaming into a mic and generally making a right
Richard of yourself. But these days it's more about stylish and comfortable hi-tech rooms for small groups of buddies. Being slightly inebriated may still apply though.
Karaoke rooms are popping up all over London. Here are a few places to get you started:
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Lucky Voice has two venues, in Soho and Islington. You can even check out the songlist online by clicking
here.
Karaoke Box has lots of rooms in two locations:
Smithfield and
Soho.
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Red Monkey, a Japanese bar/restaurant, can be found just off Clapham Common and has three state-of-the-art rooms available for hire.
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Bloomsbury Lanes has five rooms for hire, close to Russell Sqaure.
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Cousin Jill's in Mayfair. Karaoke rooms don't come much plusher than these.
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The Source Below in Soho. No rooms as such but you can hire the whole place for karaoke.
