Delightfully Off-Key Return of Karaoke to Philadelphia om a recent Friday night in South Philadelphia, Erica Ruiz commanded the back room at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar with her karaoke rendition of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.” The eye of a pulsating storm of bodies, Ruiz, 35, bellowed the song’s familiar refrain — “You, you, yooou oughta knoooow!” — to exuberant cheers and fist pumps from the crowd.To get more news about Karaoke Melbourne CBD, you can visit starsktv.com.au official website. A professional musician — she sings in the local band Foxtrot & the Get Down — Ruiz is no stranger to belting in front of an audience. But without performing a live show in over a year, Ruiz has sought out karaoke as a creative outlet until her band performs together again in September. Last Friday was her second consecutive week at Ray’s, helmed by local karaoke host DJ Lars. “This is definitely one of the best spots for karaoke,” Ruiz said. “It’s a very supportive crowd. It doesn’t matter what song you’re doing — the crowd will cheer you on no matter what.” That Friday, the Italian Market haunt was brimming with patrons, crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, and a dense cloud of body heat settled across the bar. Every performer was met with the same rapturous applause, regardless of skill or song choice, even as night turned to early morning and the crowd began to thin. The scene at Ray’s mirrored the spirit of bars across the city during the first post-pandemic karaoke nights. On June 11, after nearly 15 months since the city was placed under stay-at-home orders, Philly’s indoor mask mandate and 11 p.m. last-call regulations were lifted, allowing bars to return to business as usual. Ray’s resumed its indoor karaoke that night. In the ensuing days, Bob and Barbara’s, the 700, 12 Steps Down, and Locust Bar followed suit, with packed houses and long song queues. For Ellen Trappey, now that 70 percent of Philadelphia has received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the first order of post-pandemic business wasn’t to meet her nephew for the first time. It was karaoke. At the 700 in Northern Liberties, Trappey, 41, selected a lineup of powerhouse heartbreak songs: Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” and the Chicks’ “Gaslighter.” “My whole repertoire tonight is about loss and cheating,” Trappey said. Among the first vocalists of the evening, Trappey had the task of energizing a tepid Monday-night crowd seated on the sofas and chairs on the bar’s second floor. “It’s so quiet,” she said, in between Robyn verses. From a couch near the stage, Trappey’s friend Tara Cox sang harmony. “That’s a usual thing for me,” Cox said. “I tend to dominate any song.” For her own performance, Cox, 32, led the crowd, which had nearly doubled in size, through proper hand-clap timing on “Private Eyes.” She planned to later take on all five vocal parts of “My Shot” from Hamilton. “I’ve never done it out,” she said. “I’ve practiced it for a year and a half. I know it without words.”