When EVO opened in 2013, the plan was to be a seven-days-a-week space. That didn’t last long. The one weeknight event that did have the longest run though was karaoke.
Being a kitchenless basement space, we know our weeknight programming options are limited, especially when coupled with noise restrictions thanks to an ancient building and difficult neighbors, but for years, karaoke was an event we could run that was an alternative to dance nights or shows for the folks in our community that aren’t into that.
One of our first karaoke nights was part of a “Community Tuesdays” program, where different community groups took over our space on Tuesday nights, did whatever entertainment they wanted, and worked the bar themselves to make some money for themselves. Participating groups included the Pride Centre, Womonspace, and the ISCWR, who organized one of those early karaokes
Initial success for karaoke lays squarely on the shoulders of one of our original team members, Bobby, aka Dwight Trash, aka Trudy Looking Glass. (Fun fact, Bobby was also instrumental in introducing burlesque to our space but that’s a post for another day!) Post-Bobby, infamous Edmonton karaoke duo Jadie and Kendra also hosted for long run. (Not a lot of pictures taken on karaoke nights, but luckily, Bobby also hosted some Monday open mic nights, letting us share some images of these great parts of our EVO family)
The success of our annual Drag Superstar contest inspired the idea for a Karaoke Superstar contest. What a way to bring some friendly competition into our weekly event, while showcasing some of the amazing singers that Edmonton has. We ran this for a few years in January, and boy did it bring some singers down to the space! (And since it was partially voted, they brought their friends, and that meant busy Wednesdays, which, let’s be honest, is the goal; Ice District rent isn’t cheap!) We don’t think this is the complete list, but shout outs to some of our Karaoke Superstar winners: Jadie (2015), Nava (2016), Layla (2017), Kyle (2018 – maybe!), Shannon (2019), Kyle and Charity (2020). After Charity’s 2020 win in February, we promised a summer edition, but well, we all know how 2020 went!
Karaoke Superstar wasn’t the only cash contest we tried during karaoke. We had a run of our MYSTERY SONG contest too, where we posted hints about a song, and people had to sing the answer. Whoever submitted and sang, won!
But mostly, karaoke is just about good times with friends, singing some songs. And that sure came through, especially during holidays (some of which included little community potlucks where all the karaoke regulars brought down food for everyone to share!)
Post-COVID, we started Drag Queen Karaoke with rotating hosts. Some of your drag faves like Ferris and Bambi, Twiggy, Gemma, and Natrasha brought their drag stage energy to hosting. But also in that post-COVID world, we had to be a little more sustainable than before, which karaoke isn’t always. Sadly, we put karaoke on pause in 2023.
That is, until we got the chance to partner with the Edmonton Lesbian Event Network last October for a one-off Scary-oke. The response was so good, we brought it back as a monthly event, and we look forward to keeping it like that for a while. Not everyone wants to be in a loud dance club, and not everyone wants to watch a show, and maybe, just maybe, all they really want is a few drinks, a few songs, a few laughs, and Karaoke at EVO has that covered.
