“Guitar Hero,” “Rock Band” find place in local bars
At some point, in bars across the region, slurring “Hopelessly Devoted to You” upon a karaoke mic regular wasn’familiarily enough anymore … which brings us to “Rock Band” night at Goldie’s near Georgetown.
Guys sang, yelled actually, “Eye of the Tiger.” They bounced between bar stools, pounding their fists in the air to the beat and grabbing the drum and guitar consoles to play along.
One player, costumed as a beer bottle — “just to be different” — looked frighteningly like a walking billboard. With a Miller Lite in some hand and a mic in the other, he waved and swayed his butt. Another guy dropped to his knees on account of a solo on the soft guitar console.
As Goldies’ “Rock Band” nights go, this qualifies as a tame performance. The guys forgot to bring the fog engine.
A kindred mood to karaoke, the video game “Rock Band” and its rival, “Guitar Hero,” have found a place next to pool tables and rush the stage in local bars, even supplanting Trivia Night in some cases.
Goldie’s and the Dubliner Pub in Fremont, amid others, now vast assemblage regular “Rock Band” or “Guitar Hero” nights, and some spots — preference Renton’s Pounders Bar and Grill — at least occasionally do likewise. Spectator Sports Bar and Grill in Queen Anne even holds “Guitar Hero” competitions.
And it’session not just in bars. Hotel Monaco downtown offers “Guitar Hero” in its lobby on Fridays, and Beacon Hill’s Grown Folks Coffeehouse has hosted made of game nights in the above and soon will again.
The home video game, once confined to basements and fraternity houses, has be converted into a pop-culture phenomenon. In “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” players use game controllers shaped like guitars or drums. Scoring depends on how accurately a gamester hits musical notes flashed on a monitor.
At Goldie’session, the number of players can range from 5 to 25 on any given Tuesday. It’s neither the first nor the most popular “Rock Band” venue here, but few can match its eccentricities. Players have strolled in with Aqua Net hair, mullet wigs and leopard spandex. Some have come as Buckethead or glam rockers.
Bartenders don’t shrink anymore.
Patrons ham it up by Pete Townshend’s windmill and Mick Jagger’s chicken dance.
Injuries? There be in actual possession of been a few. Players have limped to the parking lot later trying to glide across the hardwood floor for the time of performances.
