Live band karaoke: we play while your guests sing

How it differs from standard karaoke

With standard karaoke, someone sings to a backing track while watching a screen. The track sounds fine, but with no one playing it live, the singer can feel alone in a large room.

We play the complete recording and add the band on top of it. Every part from the original song stays in that recording. Guitar, bass and drums are played live by us over it, so the person holding the mic fronts a real band while the whole room watches.

The catch

Karaoke libraries offer thousands of songs. We keep our live karaoke list shorter because we only play songs we know. Before you book, you can check it on the setlist page. Send us any song, and we’ll play it if you give us enough time to learn it.

For a night where anyone can take the mic and sing whatever song comes to mind, hire Ricky Bobby Karaoke instead. That’s the karaoke DJ service Rik and Bob run as part of Ricky Bobby Music, and it can run any song at any time: the system downloads the song and plays it right there on site. Live band karaoke is a different kind of night, where a handful of guests get up and sing with a live band behind them. The two can go in one booking.

What it is good for

• The party's later half. After a dance set, finish with an hour of karaoke with the band. By then, guests know whether they want to sing.
• Company parties. Seeing the boss front a rock band is a hit.
• Birthdays and reunions. With a smaller group, every guest who wants a shot at the mic can have one.
• One big song. Sometimes the moment people talk about afterward is when one guest steps up and sings one song with the band.

How it works

1. Choose the timing. It works best as part of the evening, not the whole event.
2. Share your song requests in advance so we can learn any we don’t know yet.
3. That night, guests put their names down for a song, so nobody ends up stuck at the front trying to decide what to sing.
4. We start the recording and play with it. All the singer needs to do is sing.

The PA and microphones belong to us, and they stay set up for the whole evening. Learn more in house system or band-provided PA.

Announcements and music between sets

Rik and Bob both handle the microphone, so announcements never hold up the music.

Our PA runs all night, not only during our sets. As guests arrive and between sets, we play recorded music through it, a playlist from a laptop. If you want more, Ricky Bobby DJ is a separate offering of Ricky Bobby Music that you can book together with the band in one booking.

You can pick the music, or tell us the mood and we’ll pick it. If you’ve hired your own DJ or host, they can use our system.

Common questions