K-Box Karaoke Bar: With Ali Carle & Andrew McLeod in the Adelaide City region of South Australia

Visit 'K-Box' in Hindley Street on most evenings and you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in KL or Hong Kong. The crowds give their tonsils a real workout on the 50-thousand song titles in the K-Box karaoke system. It's just a matter of paying your money, waiting for a booth and grabbing a microphone.

The night we were there a guy was giving Frank Sinatra's "My Way" his best shot. Goodness knows what "Old Blue Eyes" would have made of it all but his soft crooning style is just one of many in this melting pot of melodies some English, some Cantonese, some Japanese.

Karaoke really took off in Japan in the early eighties and now echoes across bars and booths from Hong Kong to Hindley Street. The artists who composed these pop classics don't get to hear what's become of their work and that's probably a good thing.

We met a group of second year chemistry students from Adelaide Uni who were here to celebrate completing their exams. In the next booth - a group of regulars who front up to the microphone every two weeks.

Luckily for us, the weight of numbers not only drowns out the tune but also the embarrassment. "You can make a fool of your self with your friends and you don't have to get smashed to do it," said one singer.

K-Box is one of many emerging Karaoke Bars around town. It's in Hindley Street and you can give the vocal chords a work-out for $6 an hour. They can cater for small gatherings up to large groups of twenty or more.

K Box
Karaoke Bar
86 Hindley Street
Ph (08) 8211 6222
$6 per hour