Ten members, one live band and absolutely no stage fright - Bandeoke at BOX Nottingham

Affinity members visited BOX Nottingham on Thursday evening for a night none of us are likely to forget in a hurry - Bandeoke, where you don't just sing along to a backing track, you get up and front a full live band. Ten of us came along, and by the end of the night every single one had held a microphone.

We started with a few a discounted £5 drinks and 20% off food, using our Affinity discount.

Then we headed upstairs in one of BOX's private karaoke rooms - a proper warm-up in the best sense. Drinks in hand, disco ball spinning, and that first brave soul who picks up the mic and breaks the ice for everyone else. It didn't take long. Within minutes the room had gone from polite shuffling to a full-blown singalong, and someone had already worked their way through Summer Nights, a few Elvis tracks, amongst many more tracks - with rather more conviction than accuracy. Nobody minded. That's rather the point.

Then came the main event. BOX sits inside one of Nottingham's finest Watson Fothergill buildings, and the main room is genuinely something. With a soaring Victorian dome, flags overhead, and a stage lit up under the red BANDEOKE neon. The house band were superb: tight, loud, and generous with the nervous ones. There's a world of difference between singing to a track and having live drums kick in behind you, and you could see it land on people's faces the moment it happened.

Our lot did not hold back. One after another they went up, and the rest of us made sure the loudest cheers in the room were coming from the Affinity corner. Every one of them got the same reception, which is exactly how it should be.

The night peaked somewhere around midnight with confetti coming down over the crowd, arms in the air, and a room full of strangers and friends singing the same words back at the stage. We finished the evening in the quieter end of the bar under the Live Band sign, drinks in hand, catching our breath and going over the highlights.

A big thank you to everyone who came along and threw themselves into it so wholeheartedly, and to Terry and Tünde for hosting and making sure nobody was left standing on their own. Special mention to the ones who swore blind they wouldn't sing and then had to be gently prised off the stage!

Meeting new people, sharing great moments and creating memories - that's what these nights are for. Thursday delivered all three, at volume.

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Meet New People • Share Great Moments • Create Memories