Canberra's biggest karaoke competition wraps up with 'electrifying' night (even Shannon Noll was impressed)

While not here in person, Aussie singer-songwriter Shannon Noll had some words of wisdom to share with Canberrans about to hit the stage for ‘Canberra’s BEST Karaoke Competition’.

“It’s not just about singing. It’s about stage presence,” he told the packed room at the Harmonie German Club via the screen.

“Above all, make sure you have fun.”

The competition was coming to a close last Saturday (28 September) after 12 weeks of competition.

Since early August, Hotel Queanbeyan, Kambah Inn and Harmonie German Club have taken turns hosting nine heats, a final and a semi-final, where anyone was encouraged to pick up a microphone and let it rip and enter to win cash prizes in the process.

There was also a ‘wild card’ option, where anyone who bought a meal or drink at any one of the venues and sang a song during the 12 weeks was automatically entered.

A panel of judges, including the respective venue’s manager, at each heat rated the karaokists for vocal ability, stage presence, song choice, audience interaction, costume and appearance, stage movement, and “overall entertainment value”.

Wes Heather from Venue Events said the first aim was to do karaoke on a scale never done before, while the ultimate aim was to resurrect Canberra’s pre-COVID hospitality glory days.

“One of the main things we’re trying to do is capture a new crowd, but also by combining all the venues, we’re hopefully going to see people introduced to other venues for the first time and realise, ‘Actually, I’ll come here again’,” he told Region in August.

“A lot of venues have said to me, we’re not really keen on karaoke competitions because ‘this person always wins’ or ‘this team always brings in the professional singers and they always win’. But you can be the worst singer in the world and still walk away with the number-one prize. Everyone has a shot.”

All up, 107 people entered the competition over the 12 weeks, with 30 still in the running by the time of the grand final.

Wes said a “lively crowd” of more than 350 people came along to watch on Saturday, with the show running from 7 pm to 11 pm.

To help break the ice, Wes set up a bit of a skit with Shannon Noll where Wes got up from his table, whipped out the two microphones tucked into his belt and broke into ‘What About Me?’, passing the spare microphone around to attendees to help him complete the lines.

At the end, Shannon himself burst onto the screen to congratulate Wes with a slow clap and introduce participants to the rules of the game.

Wes describes the night as “electrifying”.

“They all did a great job,” he says.

“There was one lady who turned up dressed as Freddie Mercury – with the moustache and everything – and sang Queen, and halfway through the song, the moustache fell off.

“We had people you wouldn’t see on Australian Idol but who made it to the grand final because of their engagement and the fun atmosphere they created.”

In the end, Jeremy Leala, known as DJ Cuddles, took home the grand prize of $3500 cash with his rousing rendition of ‘Tennessee Whiskey’, followed by Dakota Kate Armitstead-Hansen in second place with $1500 and Robin Seewooruttun in third place with $500.

Additionally, a “surprise” Wildcard audience member was awarded $500 for their impromptu performance.

The timing is yet to be confirmed, but Wes says the competition is “definitely” coming back next year as several other venues are already expressing their desire to be involved.

“It ran pretty damn smoothly for a first time, but I’m not sure we’ll do 12 weeks again – we might shorten it a little bit and maybe just have two heats per venue,” he says.

“But it’s definitely going to happen next year, and definitely with a few more venues and a much larger prize pool.”