Karaoke night at a bar in central Montpellier

How the night came about

The announcement landed in the chat in the small hours of 2 July: “KARAOKE, APÉRO AND… MAYBE A LADIES’ CHOICE DANCE” — Thursday 10 July, from 6 pm, at a bar in central Montpellier, free entry. On the programme: karaoke “sung from the heart”, dancing (including “summer ladies’ choice numbers, with sparkle”) and a bottle of champagne from the house, raffled off “for the most tuneful singer”.

For the community this was the first collaboration with a bar in the historic centre — that night the room was entirely ours. The organiser asked people to flag up in advance: “give us a shout if you’re definitely coming, so there are enough glasses, enough microphones and enough excuses to sing ‘My Heart Will Go On’.” A week earlier a separate notice had gone up in the chat: “URGENT..IMPORTANT..WANTED. Looking for a Boy or a Girl with a good voice for backing vocals” — someone to sing along and hold the songs together.

Every announcement was posted in French as well: the evening was meant to be open to French-speaking guests too. The barman invited people personally, in French, listing his “gamme de 70 cocktails et de 35 whiskys, des gins, et des rhums”, plus French vodka and champagne, and promising “une bouteille à gagner pour la meilleure chanson”.

The venue, the money and the kit

Entry was free — you only paid for what you ordered. Signature cocktails cost €11–13, the non-alcoholic ones €9. The star of the list was a Pornstar Martini: vodka, passion fruit and a shot of champagne, €12. The kitchen ran all evening, so between songs you could actually eat rather than just drink.

The sound kit was ours: we brought our own speaker, microphones and cables. The evening before, one last reminder went out to the chat: “Message me if you’re coming — we’ll put your song on first.”

How it went

The first video from the bar appeared at 19:25, captioned “We’ve started))”. Photos and clips kept coming from the room all evening, the last one at 00:39, long after midnight. About fifteen people turned up.

We sang in every language at once: Russian songs mixed in with Ukrainian and French ones — in a group where people from several countries share one table, that turned out to be the most natural shape for the night. Around midnight came the promised raffle: “So there’s champagne after all))”, with a photo of the bottle being handed over. And towards the end the owner of the bar opened a couple more bottles for the group — just like that, on the house.

Those who couldn’t make it followed along through the chat and wrote back: “Look at you lot, and I’m working tonight”, “I’m singing along from here”, “Absolute legends”. The next morning the organiser summed it up: “Thank you to everyone who came to our karaoke night! Thank you to the wonderful staff for the warm welcome and the atmosphere… We’ll definitely do this evening again — more than once!” The thanks were repeated in French: “Merci à tous ceux qui sont venus à notre soirée karaoké !” And the answer came back: “Thank you for the warmth, the songs, the laughter, and for being there with us!”

If you want to come to the next karaoke night

The promise to “do it again” was kept fast: on 11 July the organiser announced the next evening at the same bar, for 14 July — France’s national holiday. Karaoke isn’t confined to bars, either: six weeks earlier a guitar and a karaoke set turned up at the camping weekend between Montpellier and Béziers.

You don’t need to be able to sing — as that night showed, singing along is plenty. You can come on your own, too: people get acquainted faster around a microphone than around a table. Evenings like this are announced in the community chat about a week ahead, and you’re asked to flag up in advance so there are enough seats and enough microphones. And if you have French-speaking friends, bring them: the evening is run in two languages.