Bandeoke to help raise funds for Comic relief this week at Charles Bradlaugh

Three musicians who run a weekly ‘Bandeoke’ night are holding a special event this week to help raise money for Comic Relief.

Bandeoke combines a live band with karaoke – giving people the chance to get up on stage and perform.

It normally takes place each Tuesday at The Charles Bradlaugh in Northampton.

However, this week the organisers are holding a special Red Nose Day event on Friday, March 15.

The event is run by guitarist Chris Wilkinson, drummer Alistair Wilkinson and bassist Ollie Carnell who are joined by host Chris Wilson-Slight.

Chris said: “Bandeoke is the perfect way for anyone to come up and be a rockstar or popstar for three minutes and perform with a live band.

“We’re almost at our one-year anniversary of Bandeoke in Northampton and while we’re usually on a Tuesday night, we’ve decided to do a Friday night for a change so people can come out and enjoy it, with no school the next day or whatever it might be, and it’s a great opportunity to raise awareness for a great cause and help raise some money.”

The trio have a list of 180 songs which people can pick from, featuring tracks by the likes of Adele, Blondie, Bruno Mars, Dolly Parton and Fleetwood Mac through to Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Prince, Taylor Swift and The Beatles.

Mr Wilkinson added: “While it’s a live band, we’ve also just started to incorporate backing tracks which will improve the production of the performance but won’t take too much away from it being organic as a band.

“People have the opportunity to sing along to the songs that they know but there’s also the assistance of a screen with highlighted lyrics in real time as well.

“There's an eclectic range of tracks to pic, from country and rock and we’re pushing for more alternative genres such as pop punk, emo and metal as well.

“There’s a few obvious popular songs in there, but the list is carefully selected.”

At Bandeoke, there are lists on available songs around the venue with host Mr Wilson-Slight encouraging people to get up and sing, managing the queue and hyping up the crowd.

Mr Wilkinson added: “We’ve had many people get up that have never sung in their lives before which is always quite a feat.”

As well as giving people the chance to get on stage and be the frontman of a band for a song, there will also be raffles, fun mini games and beer pong taking place.

The Red Nose Day Bandeoke is at the Earl Street venue in Northampton on Friday, March 15 and begins at 8pm.

If you’re unable to attend on Friday, you can still donate towards Mr Wilkinson’s fundraising appeal at Just Giving via https://bit.ly/3uZq1bs

For more information about Bandeoke Live! and to view the full list of songs, visit https://linktr.ee/bandeokelive