Universal Citywalk - Rising Star

Just when you start to think this town can’t get much more tacky, one of the power players kicks it up a notch. As a tourist, this would just be another part of the magic. The variety that keeps Orlando entertaining for as long as you’re here. As a local, this one was a big risk. I’m talking about Universal Orlando’s new entertainment venue ‘Citywalk’s Rising Star’. Let’s review exactly what this place is all about. Karaoke. Yes, I said it… Karaoke… do you see why I think it’s risky now?

When you say Karaoke, I think smoky bar, depressed drunken people belting out squeaky renditions of ‘I will survive’ and ‘my endless love’. Your emcee (which is a generous term) is usually struggling to get the crowd involved and for-mentioned crowd is tolerating the evening with little cheer. This is why, when I heard Universal Orlando added a Karaoke bar to their complex, I was shocked. I thought it was a terrible idea, just another tourist trap to avoid.

Now that all my pre-judgements are firmly out of the way, I can continue openly and honestly. I really had to get across how unbelievably lame I thought this was.

It was Saturday night, and a small group of friends decided we needed to get out. Shamefully I’ll admit, it was my idea to go to Rising Star. I was curious, and not very dressed up, so my choices were limited. The good point about touristy bars is there’s rarely an enforced dress code, and my flip flops were welcomed with open arms.

Rising Star is set up like a concert hall. Full floor of tables on the 1st floor, and a U-shaped balcony on the 2nd. We found a table up top facing the stage and settled in. This certainly isn’t your run of the mill karaoke bar. There’s a full live band plus back-up singers so the person singing is truly the star of the show. The ‘host’ was a lively young man with a rock n roll attitude and frosted tips, he kept the crowd engaged and made the singers relax. If they needed a back up, he was on it, if they needed a dancing partner, he was there. He kept it short and sweet, when calling up the next person to sing. If they didn’t respond he quickly gave them a count to 3 and was onto the next one. He did an excellent job of keeping the energy high and the songs flowing, there was very little downtime between songs and for some reason, you just liked the guy.

The selection of songs was up to date and love ballads were kept to a minimum and I didn’t hear any country songs, which I certainly appreciated. The tunes were all good sing-a-long modern hits. The karaoke singers were all better than average, so if you’re tone-deaf like I am, I would suggest staying off stage or getting very drunk before performing. A few girls performed ‘baby got back’ which is normally a tragic hot mess but they pulled it off well and danced appropriately for the song, very well done.

My opinions changed as the night went on which is rare (I’m so darn stubborn) and I came to realize that I was dead wrong about this place. I had a great night, and will definitely go back again soon. The atmosphere was friendly and lively, and it was a comfortable mature environment to be in. Citywalk’s Rising Star managed to take an activity such as karaoke which has a negative stigma of middle aged lameness and completely turn it around. No more hairbrush in the mirror sing-a-longs. Karaoke is cool again!

Facts: $7 cover charge, 21+ (except on Thursday), open until 2am, drinks are overpriced