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Music Venues in the Kansas City / Lawrence Area

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Here is a list of music venues in the Kansas City (Missouri / Kansas) and Lawrence, KS area. I've included a brief review. My favorites are listed near the top.
Kansas City

  • Uptown Theater - large old renovated theater off Broadway in midtown. This place is generally pretty solid for seeing a show.
  • The recordBar - small club on west side of Westport. Run by KC musicians The Roman Numerals. Excellent at booking small shows and local shows. They do a great job at running sound given the club's setup.
  • The Crossroads- Outdoor venue in the middle of the Crossroads behind Grinders. They book some great bands, always very diverse, and it's nice to be outside in the city. I think tickets can be bought inside Grinders without all of the service charges tacked on.
  • Mutual Musician's Foundation - A not-for-profit organization near the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. They generally don't open until midnight and are open and serving drinks until 5am!!! hosting improvisational jazz. This is one of the oldest clubs in town.
  • Beaumont Club- One of the oldest running clubs in Westport. A large space that they've recently remodeled. They are booking a lot more bigger named bands now.
  • Czar Bar- 18th & Grand, owned by Anodyne Records founder. Small stage and very much trying to do what the recordBar has already done.
  • Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club- off Main in midtown. Very old dive bar that has some great rockabilly, alt-country, folk, rock bookings. Sound is usually decent here with cheap drinks.
  • The Brick- 18th and McGee. Good food for a divey club. The owner of this place is very into the local scene and they are very good at hosting local bands and novelty shows.
  • The Pistol / The Foundation- Two clubs in a warehouse art space in the West Bottoms. They will have small independent artists, noise bands, performance pieces here from time to time.
  • Crosstown Station- Right across from Power + Light off McGee. Very nice club, sound is good. Book local shows and some very small national acts and specialy shows, but decent shows are scarce.
  • The City Market- Large open-aired venue right inside of the city market. Will get some big shows occasionally but they only have them in the summer.
  • Starlight Theater- Large open-aired venue outside of the KC zoo. Every once and a while, this place will book a very big show and it goes over great - sometimes not.
  • Sprint Center- Very large arena that books some of the biggest shows in KC.
  • Folly Theatre- Downtown. Classical, jazz, as well as occasional bigname national acts.
  • Kemper Arena- Very large old arena. I think they still book shows here from time to time but I'm not positive on that.
  • Power + Light District- they will have free shows in the summer on Wednesdays I believe in the common area. Hey, you can't beat free.
  • Sandstone Amphitheater- A large outdoor amphitheater outside of Bonner Springs, KS. This place will put on festivals and large outdoor shows from time to time.
  • Midland Theater- An old theater in downtown KC that has been recently renovated. Sound can sometimes be off here with lound bands because of the cavernous space but it looks great.
  • Voodoo Lounge- inside Harrah's Casino and run by House of Blues. Very nice club, sound is always good - but can be expensive. They will occasionally book a decent national act and I think they do an okay job of getting hip hop shows.
  • Memorial Hall- large venue in downtown KCK. It's been a very long time since I've seen a show here but I think they still book shows there from time to time.
  • Knucklehead's- In the Northeast section of Kansas City. They specialize in blues, rockabilly, alt-country, country, and folk. I've heard good things but have never been.
  • The Blue Room- jazz club off of historic 18th and Vine. Tied in with Kansas City Jazz Museum.
  • The Riot Room- off Westport. Used to be The Hurricane. They mostly specialize in local bands and hard rock / metal bands now. Sound is usually pretty loud in here.
  • The News Room- on Broadway in midtown. They just rebuilt the back / side area and are planning on hosting a lot of live music / djs. Still a very random place to see a show.
  • Westport Flea Market- On Westport Rd. in midtown. Live music on Sundays and sometimes other nights.
  • Mike's Tavern- around 51st and Troost I believe. This place has local acts from time to time in a divebar setting.
  • Mike Kelly's Westsider- west end of Westport Rd. Small divey place that advertises free local shows every day of the week, usually just a singer / songwriter.
  • Trouser Mouse- this is a Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass, & Rockabilly club in Blue Springs, MO. I've never been here.
  • Harry's Country Club- small outdoor stage in the City Market area. They will have local acts play outside in the summer occasionally.
  • Jazz- cajun restaurant on 39th and State Line Rd that has rockabilly, zydeco, jazz play regularly.
  • Prospero's Books- Bookstore on 39th and Bell St. Have free poetry and singer /songwriter acts from time to time.
  • O'Dowds- Occasionally the one in the plaza will have a local act play on the stage there.
  • Fred P. Otts- located off the plaza. Will occasionally have local bands playing on Sunday nights on a small floor space. But they've been doing this for 15+ years.
  • The Bulldog- 17th and Main. Wednesday night music hosted by Kirsten Paludan; maybe other nights too.
  • The Levee- east side of Westport. A lot of local acts, blues, reggae and the like.
  • El Torreon- old punk club off Martini Alley. Not sure if it is still open, there were talks of remodeling it just a year ago.
  • Blayney's - in Westport. Mainly blues music here. Defunct now, but may open again eventually.
  • The Madrid Theater- Off Main in midtown. Once in a blue moon there will be a show here. It's very much like the Uptown Theater only I like it more. It's a shame they don't have more shows here.
  • Westport Coffee House- Off Pennsylvania in Westport. Has singer / songwriters most every week.
  • Californos- 41st and Pennsylvania. ???
  • Aftershock- in the 'burbs. I don't know much about it.
  • Jerry's Bait Shop- In Shawnee Mission and Lee's Summit. Small bar / restaurant with local bands.
  • Carlsen Center- At Johnson County Community College in Olathe. National acts play here from time to time.
  • Frontier Park- In Olathe. There's a summer concert series every year
  • Brooksider- 63rd St. in Brookside. I've been told there are bands there occasionally.
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    Lawrence
  • Liberty Hall - nice large venue in an old theater similar to Uptown Theater. They will book some good national acts from time to time.
  • The Bottleneck - This place has been around forever. It's medium sized and they are very good at booking both local and national acts. I've seen a lot of my favorites here over the years.
  • The Granada - A fairly large club. Sounds is generally pretty loud here for some reason. They do a great job of booking local and national acts though.
  • Jackpot Saloon- Long narrow club, sound is generally pretty rough. Same concept as The Bottleneck only smaller.
  • Replay Lounge- Very small area for a band in the front part of the bar. Occasionally they will have something cool playing there and you'll catch an up-and-coming band before they were famous.
  • Jazzhaus- Upstairs club on Massachusetts St. It's a small venue that play a variety of music.
  • Lied Center- Very nice concert space but mainly for classical music. I've heard of random bands playing there though.
  • Gaslight Tavern- Small coffee shop / bar. I've never been here, not sure if it's still running.
  • 8th St. Taproom- This place has a show every once in a while. I've never seen one here though. Any input?
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    Hope you enjoyed the list. Looking for input on this.

    -ick!

    By ick at 05/21/2010 - 17:23 | Media | Music | Personal | ick's blog | 1667 reads