Free Things to Do in San Diego

Rock Out Karaoke was recently named one of the top free things to do in San Diego in an article on the website Thrillist.com. We are honored to be sharing the spotlight with other San Diego powerhouses like the Hotel del Coronado, Sunset Cliffs, Taylor Guitars, Balboa Park, and um, the beach.

But we really love sharing the spotlight with YOU each and every week. Thanks for helping us make the list of top San Diego activities – we couldn’t do it without you!

Hotel Del Coronado

Photo Credit: Hotel Del Coronado (Flickr)

See the full article here (and then get out there and do some of these free things!).

2014: A Karaoke Year in Review

2014 has been a banner year here for us at Rock Out Karaoke, and we couldn’t have done it without you, San Diego! Whether it was a Gaslamp or Pacific Beach bar — or a private karaoke event — we loved having you on stage with us. So, we got to thinking (dangerous, we know): what if we added up all the numbers? Here’s how 2014 panned out:

  • 107 shows (charity events, holiday parties, bar gigs, weddings, & campfires*)
  • This also means we likely played “Don’t Stop Believin” at least 106 times
  • 4,000 songs performed
  • 15,458 high fives (some people forget to high five the band on the way out, you know)
  • 2 Bass Dave beard sightings

While there were so many to choose from, here are just a few of our favorite live band karaoke moments in 2014:

ROK Turns 8
We quietly celebrated our 8th birthday this October. Hard to believe we’ve been rocking for the better part of a decade! Judging by the numbers above, we’re only getting started.

4k tv winnerAJ’s Kids Crane
We loved supporting such a great cause with AJ’s Kids Crane this year. One lucky ROK fan even took home a brand new Sony 4K TV!

San Diego County Fair
We enjoyed our 5th year performing at the San Diego County Fair. Editors note: we’re already in talks with them about some surprises for 2015.

The Local Pub Crawl (follow the link for tons of great photos)
We look forward to this rockin’ party that just keeps getting bigger and better every year. Taking the stage at the legendary House of Blues with 1,200 of our closest friends in attendance is always quite a rush.

YOU Joining us on Stage
Yes, YOU! We couldn’t have done any of this without our incredible fans, so thanks from all of us at ROK for supporting San Diego’s best live band karaoke. Special thanks to 710 Beach Club for hosting us every Thursday night of the year – and Tin Roof Bar for bringing us in every Wednesday. Don’t forget to tip your bartenders!

We hope to see you in 2015!

*ROK has yet to land a paying campfire gig (it’s one of our top goals for 2015 in Southern California).

Rock Out Karaoke is San Diego’s number one event band. There’s nothing quite like joining a live band on stage to unleash your inner rock star! Call us today to see how we can spice up your next event.

San Diego Named Top Meeting Destination

File this one under “Duh!”, but San Diego was recently named one of the top 10 meeting destinations in the United States. The list was produced by Cvent (a leading event management software company) and puts San Diego with the likes of Orlando, Chicago, Vegas, and well ahead of places like New York, LA, and New Orleans.

Here’s what they had to say about our fair city:

“With 70 miles of beaches, 92 golf courses, over 100 culturally diverse neighborhoods, 120 meeting hotels, Rock Out Karaoke, and an abundance of event venues for groups of 10 to 30,000, San Diego is an ideal meeting destination.”

Ok, so we may have embellished the description just a bit, but you get the picture. San Diego is awesome, and even better with some live band karaoke. We love the fact that our hometown plays host to so many great conventions, conferences, and meetings all year long. Give us a ring if we can make your next meeting rock a little harder.

A Wedding to Remember

Recently, we played our unique live band karaoke show for a wedding reception in San Diego.  We had a blast and figured we’d post a quick re-cap of how things went.

The bride and groom chose a very classy 1930’s theme and the guests and wedding party were all decked out.  Everyone was looking mighty sharp!  Even the band dressed up in our “1930’s” best.  The venue was the picturesque Museum of Photographic Arts at Balboa Park in San Diego.  Start to finish, this was a great wedding reception. The cocktail hour and dinner were both pretty low key, but the food looked incredible and the drinks were flowing.  We watched some touching toasts, the traditional first dance, and everyone was warming up to the idea of sharing the stage with us.

The cocktails must have worked.  From the moment we took the stage, we had non-stop sign ups for karaoke singers.  The bride kicked things off with her stirring rendition of Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot.  What a way to get the crowd warmed up!  Others followed with karaoke classics, like Love Shack, Sweet Caroline, and our personal favorite of the night – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, starring several beautiful women!  (see figure 1).  All in all, it was a great event that was full of energy and fun.  Special thanks to Jeff & Fairlight for having us as a part of their special day – congratulations and best wishes!

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