Archive · modern edition Every bar New York on Tap knew, as it stood around 2008, with a 2026 check on each one. This page in the 2008 edition
Spotlight Live, photographed for New York on Tap
Photo from the 2008 site

A New York on Tap pick

Spotlight Live

Delivering eight million dollars of karaoke

1604 Broadway · btwn 49th & 50th
Midtown West, Manhattan

In 2026

Closed; now DRAMMA / Palma Verde / Broadway Pizza & Bites

Later here: Opry City Stage (licensed 2017–19).

Checked October 15, 2026.

Overview

A super-luxorious karoke restaurant and bar with one stage and as many as 800 eyes watching your next performance.
Karaoke doesn't come in any bigger sizes than this. This four story tall, eight hundred capacity venue, underwent an eight million dollar transformation to create the biggest and best karaoke in the country. Performing in front of the assembled diners here requires nerves of steel, or all the dutch courage the bar can send your way. Thankfully a team of back-up singers will help smooth over the rough edges.

Why you should go

  • Karaoke doesn't get any bigger than this. Muster up the courage to get on stage, and you'll have more than a forgotten drunken moment. You'll have a story and a DVD to go with it.
  • The kitchen, headed up by Chef Kerry Simon, delivers food that's a big step beyond most Time's Square offerings. And it does so at surprisingly reasonable prices.

What you should know

  • The price of fame can be steep. $28 will get you on stage. If you want a DVD to remember the experience it'll be extra.
  • Remember priority seating works in inverse for karaoke. The hot seats are the ones back from the stage, not close to it.
  • Every table has a computer system with a custom app you can use to select the tune you'd like to perform, provide feedback about a performance, or flirt with the table of hotties across the room.

History

Singing for a live munching audience

Spotlight Live sold dinner with a show, and you were the show: diners could cut a track in a private recording booth, or shimmy onstage in front of a live munching audience, backed by professional singers1. The Times Square karaoke den opened in April 20072, 3. We called it eight million dollars of karaoke, with as many as eight hundred eyes on your next performance.

The run was short. Spotlight Live closed in early 2009, after nearly two years in business2, 3.

The building still wants an audience. Today 1604 Broadway is a multi-level nightclub and event space, with Dramma on the second floor and a show on its calendar for October 31, 20264, 5. It also holds Broadway Pizza & Bites, a pizza parlor and bar, and Palma Verde, an American restaurant with a Tulum-inspired atmosphere4.

Sources

  1. ic.sterlinginfoway.com
  2. therealdeal.com
  3. ny.eater.com
  4. 1604broadwaynyc.com
  5. songkick.com

Researched October 2026.

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