Karaoke in Barcelona: nine spots to sing your heart out

Anti-Karaoke is the rowdiest and raunchiest karaoke around. The location and time of the session has moved around a lot recently, and the latest, since September 2015, is Thursday nights at Sidecar. The €8 admission gets you a drink and you can stay for the DJ set afterwards. If you've ever fancied yourself a rock star, get up onstage and test out your biggest vocals and your best moves. It's all about the rock 'n' roll here (and the occasional cheesy flashback tune), with a vast majority of songs in English, thanks to the picks from your Canadian host, Rachel Arieff. There's no monitor for the public to follow along, so all eyes are on you. There is a book of lyrics on a music stand you can refer to, but you're always better off choosing a tune you know well and letting it all hang out. Only for the most daring.

With one of the most dynamic karaoke sessions in the city, this spot is in constant movement on the social media sites and is always very responsive to its clientele. If you forget to bring your camera, don't worry – this is one of the few karaoke spots in town where they're constantly taking photos and you can find yours on their Facebook page. First-class treatment. Plus, if you have a group of 20 or more, they can open just for you.

The thing about the George Payne is, it's massive. A huge space right in Plaça Urquinaona that once was an adult-film cinema, this is one of those Irish pubs where you find yourself among groups who have made up special T-shirts for their Barcelona adventure and small groups of visitors who are tired of walking around trying to find a place where they understand something on the menu. Plus, there's the bonus of the karaoke: every Thursday and Sunday from 9pm, the mics are open to all. A grand place for having a sing and a quenching your thirst with a nice cold pint.

It's a restaurant, it's a nightclub, and it's a karaoke bar (where there is an extra supplement to get in). You can even practise tuning up your pipes at home, since their website features a list of all the songs they have available in their karaoke system.

A Viva Voz has two locales, this one and the other in C/Rocafort. The two form a type of special tandem for the biggest karaoke fanatics. In addition to the nighttime fun, you can also rent out the space from noon – great for a daytime celebration.

When you're out on the town in the centre and still hankering for that last drink of the night in a karaoke bar that's more mellow than the wild stage show that is Anti-Karaoke, where you don't have to wait half an hour for your song to come on, here's the place for you. Between the metro stops Tetuán and Girona you'll find this karaoke house where you can get a nightcap and sing the anthem that best represents you and your mates before heading off for a bite to eat or to your scratcher for dreams of your international superstardom.

If the idea of going to the cinema for a couple of hours makes you restless, it's because you've never been to the phenomenon that is Sing-Along. How it works is you go to see a musical on the big screen, but this time instead of a bunch of stuffy audience members shushing you, you've got some enthusiastic film buffs up front encouraging you to get up and sing and dance along with the songs, which are subtitled in karaoke format. Sing-Along in Barcelona has to date shown films in English.

Zoologic is a restaurant that banks on wild and fun cheekiness and ambiguity. Along with dinner you'll take in a futuristic cabaret show, with characters who are elegant yet far from the norm; it's nothing like the sterotypical notion of stag or hen night outings. After dinner there are karaoke sessions. Definitely book in advance.