It wasn’t just nightclubs that reopened for the first time yesterday, with plenty of revellers out to enjoy a spot of karaoke, too, as restrictions eased across Scotland.
And one venue customers flocked to late last night was Bardot’s Karaoke Bar, on Justice Mill Lane in Aberdeen.
Undergoing an extensive refurbishment while closed during the pandemic, bosses at the bar were delighted to have the venue back open and are looking forward to what they describe will be “a busy week ahead”.
More than 150 people turned up to enjoy the reopening of Cheerz Bar on Exchange Street on Sunday night when restrictions were eased at midnight, with hundreds queueing outside venues across the city centre including ATIK, Prohibition, Unit 51 and The Tunnels last night.
In karaoke bars face masks do not need to be worn when singing, however, performers must stand one metre away from the audience.
At Bardot’s there is a one-metre no standing zone by the stage, the mics have disposable covers on them and are sanitised before and after each use, and there is also additional sanitising spots throughout the venue.
507 long days
Callum Morrison, the general manager of Bardot’s Karaoke Bar, had his staff back working in the venue for the first time in 507 days.
He said: “It is a blast being open. We’re really excited to be back. We’ve had a refurb and we’re all ready to go.
“I’m sure the staff are absolutely pumped to be back, too.
“It has been over a year we’ve been sitting twiddling our thumbs. We are lucky enough the company we work for owns other venues so some of us have been doing shifts elsewhere when they opened up, but it just isn’t the same as coming into your own venue and getting the place open.”
Organising his drinks order in advance to ensure he had enough stock in place for what is set to be a “full-on” week, it is “business as usual” according to Callum.
“It is more or less business as usual. We’ve got our mask policy in place and still advise social distancing where you can, but it isn’t compulsory. We have mandatory Track and Trace policies in place like all other venues.
“We’ve got three or four staff including myself working during the week and have door staff on who will be ensuing everyone signs up on our Track and Trace. There’s a QR code at the front door for people to scan before they come in.
“My go-to karaoke song is Thrift Shop by Macklemore.”
Customers raring to go
And the punters were just as excited about being back as 26-year-old Dillon Rae from Aberdeen geared up to sing his favourite karaoke numbers.
He said: “You’ve got to have a bit of karaoke in your life. I’m excited for pubs and clubs to be open again. I was in Cheerz Bar on Sunday night and the atmosphere was just something else. It was good to be back out again.
“It was very busy and was a really good night.
“I’m definitely going to be doing lots of karaoke and I’m thinking Michael Buble’s Feeling Good. I guess it will depend on how drunk I get how many songs I sing!”
He wasn’t the only one relishing in the opportunity to sing to an audience with four friends from Aberdeenshire joining in on the action.
Rachel Halvin, 19, from Ellon, said: “It is nice to see people back out and mingling again. It has been great. We’ve never been to Bardot’s before so have been looking forward to visiting.
“We’ve been on VBL’s (vodka, lemonade and blackcurrant) and will maybe get some shots on the go later, too.”
Sophie, also 19, from New Deer added: “This is our first time being out when clubs have opened.
“It is so good to be out. We’ve already sung Breaking Free from High School Musical, Summer of 69 and we’re away to sing some ABBA and maybe One Direction.”
Amber Young and Nikki Christie, who are both 19, were also visiting the venue for the first time and are happy to be out partying for the first time in 17 months.
Amber added: “We’ve been out to a few pubs but nothing like this. This is our first night being out in clubs so we’re really looking forward to it.
“We are going clubbing after the karaoke and the rest, we’ll just wait and see.
Nikki said: “We’re away to sing Mariah Carey, Man I Feel Like a Woman by Shania Twain and some ABBA!”