Taking the challenge of replacing Beeloe's Bar and Restaurant's underground location on Fifth Street and Mill Avenue is quite commendable for Tempe's new piano bar, The Big Bang. However, standing up to this challenge is something quite different.
The Big Bang features dueling piano players who incorporate musical talent with various voice inflections and audience participation to recreate decades of radio music.
The karaoke bar atmosphere combined with rivers of beer and alcohol provide an interesting spectacle of entertainment. The bar employs four piano players who rotate positions during the course of the night and take audience requests on little, white cocktail napkins. Silly antics and on-stage dancing by the performing wait staff add to the atmosphere of the musical romper room.
The timid and apprehensive are encouraged to stay away. This saloon is noted for making fools of those who care not to participate in drunken shouting and clapping to various old and new musical classics.
This bar offers entertainment from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, for a $3 cover and from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday, for a $6 cover.
In addition, every night, from 6 to 7 p.m., The Big Bang has a happy hour that stays true to its name: happy hour, for it is only one hour long.
The Big Bang does not offer daytime hours nor does it offer the option of late-night snacks. The walls that used to be covered with the artwork of Tempe's finest now stand bare. The walls will remain empty as long as the piano bar occupies the space; the décor must match Big Bang's sister bar in St. Louis, according to Manager Charice Keener.
If you are game for looking and acting ridiculous, give The Big Bang a shot. Who knows what will happen after a few beers? You might even end up on stage.
Reach the reporter at christina.chomut@asu.edu.
