Shout Karaoke Wants to Get West Palm Beach Singing Along

If a karaoke bar had a baby with Dave & Buster's and then that baby grew up to have another baby with an even larger Dave & Buster's, you'd probably have something close to Shout, the new 6,500-square-foot karaoke complex in downtown West Palm Beach.

The karaoke compound has been open for business since February 1, but this Thursday, Shout will be celebrating its official VIP ribbon-cutting ceremony with help from the Palm Beach Lakes High School Choir and West Palm's Bak Middle School of the Arts.

A karaoke business in West Palm Beach might not have made sense ten years ago. What's entertaining about a bunch of 103-year-old men belting out Madonna in a private room? Actually, that sounds incredibly entertaining.

But the point is that West Palm Beach is much different now. And that's thanks in large part to Clematis Street. "We were enamored with the Clematis Street area," Shout owner Eric Brown says. The area's high foot traffic combined with its both family and nightlife appeal made Shout's location an easy choice for Brown. "West Palm Beach is great," Brown says. "But it was Clematis in particular that put us here."
While Brown has his hands in 12 other karaoke locations around the country, his West Palm Beach project is the first branded Shout location.

Brown has been happy with the turnout in Shout's first two months of life, but he hopes to increase the popularity of Shout's private karaoke rooms. "Our real goal is to introduce the private rooms to the public," Brown says. Shout features 11 private karaoke rooms. They can fit up to 12 people and can be rented for as low as $3 per hour per person before 7 p.m. and $4 an hour per person after 7 p.m. Prices vary depending on how many people are in your group and how much you all drink. However, Shout will not charge you extra for ruining "Bohemian Rhapsody." In fact, one of the main appeals of the private rooms is the fact that no one can hear that cat-torture soundtrack you call a singing voice. "You don't have to worry about performing in public if you're not a very good singer," Brown says.
Each private room has a flat-screen TV and a song selection of more than 150,000 songs in three languages (so please don't pick just "Don't Stop Believin'"). Songs can be chosen from Shout's iPads, or if you want to go ninja on everyone's asses, you can download an app that lets you choose a song from your iPhone, so no one will see your stirring rendition of "Purple Rain" coming. 

For those not interested in singing, Shout also has a game room, a food menu, and a sports lounge.

There aren't many — if any — pure karaoke bars in Broward and Palm Beach counties. For many years, the budding superstars of South Florida have had to make due with a few designated "karaoke nights." But every night is karaoke night at Shout. And Eric Brown is hoping that will be enough to keep the music going at Shout.

Shout is located at 109 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach. Shout is open Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Shout is open Sundays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and closed on Mondays. Visit shoutkaraoke.com for more info.