Swope Park

Swope Park is the largest municipal park in Kansas City and is home to two live-music venues operating at very different scales. Starlight Theatre, a 7,739-seat outdoor venue, has presented Broadway musicals, popular concerts, and community programs to Kansas Citians since 1950. Concert booking is handled by Live Nation, and Starlight's Cohen stagehouse also allows it to present national Broadway touring shows, making it one of only two major remaining self-producing outdoor theatres in the U.S. Its concert calendar ranges across pop, rock, country, hip-hop, and R&B, drawing nationally touring acts to the park's southeast corner. The Swope Park Bandstand, originally built in the early 1900s, operates at a community scale. KC Parks uses the bandstand for family-oriented events and local musical performances rather than ticketed touring shows. Together, the two venues give Swope Park a live-music range that runs from major amphitheater concerts down to free, informal outdoor performances on the same grounds.