About a month ago a friend sent me a last minute Facebook invite to an event called Bareoke, where you are allowed to strip down as ‘bare as you dare’ while you karaoke.

It wasn’t hard for Jade Sambrook to accept the invitation to attend the event. I love to sing, I love karaoke, and above all, I love to be naked!

I was also pleased to learn from the invitation that Bareoke is a monthly event, held at Club Playhouse on Du Parc Street in Montreal, which as a former strip joint still has a licence that allows for public nudity.

I figured that I would wear my kilt since it would be easier to remove than pants while singing. I also figured that it would be original since I would surely be the only person wearing one, and last but not least, that it would add to the entertainment value of my karaoke performance.

I arrived around 10:30PM to find the place quite empty. There were maybe twenty people in total and the guy singing karaoke on the stage was clearly not removing a single piece of his clothing. The doorman assured me that the place would be full and rockin’ by midnight, so I simply grabbed myself a drink and perused the karaoke book to see which songs were available for me to sing.

The doorman was right. Roughly an hour after my arrival the venue was starting to fill-up with more and more people. And finally the ”bare” part of the event began. A group of three young adults who were most likely university classmates and wearing matching outfits took to the stage. While singing, they promptly removed their tops to expose their bare torsos. The only woman of this group also removed her skirt, showcasing to the crowd nude coloured tights to which was attached fake pubic hair. This gave the appearance of her being fully nude and clearly this group had put some serious planning into their performance.

Following this were several performances that were unmemorable. Some folks didn’t remove a single piece of clothing while others did not go beyond removing their tops. Naturally this is more than fine considering that it is a ‘bare as you dare’ event and that nobody is obligated to fully undress while singing. But for Jade Sambrook personally, there is only one way to go, and that is fully naked!

Just a little after midnight my name was finally called. I took to the stage to sing Michael Jackson’s Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’. The song hadn’t even started and the crowd was going crazy about my kilt. One woman shouted ”look at that awesome kilt, take it off now!”.

Removing the kilt and getting naked was easy, but singing Michael Jackson’s Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’ is a whole other story. I obviously didn’t remove the kilt hose and shoes, but there I was, singing naked – from above the knees – in front of a crowd of roughly 120. Since the song was so hard to sing, I threw-in some simple MJ dance moves like the side-glide, moonwalk and forward moonwalk. This lit-up the crowd even more, and I could only imagine what they were witnessing. The image of ‘flopping penis’ comes to mind!

When I was a shy introverted teenager I never imagined that one day I would have the courage to sing and dance naked in front of a large crowd. Now though, I’ve learned that it really is no big deal since we are all, each and everyone of us, naked under our clothes. For Jade Sambrook there simply is no body shame.

After leaving the stage I received tons of positive feedback. People, women and men alike, were coming up to me to tell me how great my performance was. I left the place happy with my experience and as usual, thirsty for more.

A few days later I was more than surprised to read about my performance on MTLBlog:

She was followed by a man who undeniably stole the show, and one who made us realize that it was time for us to experience Bareoke in a more, um, personal way. I couldn’t decide whether I was more impressed by his muscular physique, elegantly worn Bono cap, or unabashed flaunting of a kilt, but he was clearly a strip karaoke force to be reckoned with. The kilt came off even before the vocals to “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’” began, and my inhibitions went along with it. – Max Joseph, The MTLBlog

With that being said, I will definitely be returning each month to Bareoke at Club Playhouse. I just hope that I will be able to pull off another great performance every single time. And if not, at the very least I will profit from the occasion to pull off my clothes, because if I have learned anything from Bareoke, it’s that singing naked in public is both liberating and great for the vocals chords.