The Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland, better known as the Midland Theatre, is one of Kansas City’s strongest small venues. Located in the Power and Light District of Kansas City, Missouri, The Midland is a 4,000 seat venue best known as a host for concerts and live events. It’s combined old style architecture and new age light and technology systems make it a premiere location for small events.

The theater opened Oct. 27 of 1927 as Loew’s Midland Theatre, but a partnership with AEG Live and Arvest Bank led to the changing of it’s name in 2013. Since then, it has been the host of most 96.5 sponsored shows and other various live events. They also hold private events, such as wedding receptions or parties.

My personal experiences at the Midland that have made me love the venue include various concerts, a favorite of mine being for The Neighbourhood, a popular alternative band from California, who came to the Midland for their Nu Waves tour  May 31 of 2016.

Opening act, rapper Kevin Abstract, started the show by pulling people from the crowd on stage to act as props during his first song, a boy being asked to wave an american flag and a girl on the edge of the stage with her hair covering her face. At the time the band came on stage, The Midlands’ strobing lights and many smoke machines aided the notorious black and white aesthetic The Neighbourhood try to upkeep even in their live performances. The combination of the calm euphoria provided by the venue and the band’s loud and flashy stage presence put the concert in my top ranking of live shows I’ve attended.

The hype for my other favorite Midland concert  July 22 of 2016 was stronger than that for The Neighbourhood, a friend and I camping outside the venue for six hours to promise a good spot at female alternative-pop performer Halsey’s show. The Midland was the smallest venue played on her Badlands tour, the singer having sold out arenas including Madison Square Garden.

Thanks to the theater’s three tier floor, my friend and I had an amazing view from the second level, the closest we could have gotten with the first level labeled as VIP. The stage was set with a metal staircase used by the performer to reach different heights for the crowd’s view. Halsey’s performances are known for their odd theatrical qualities, and The Midland’s stage perfectly displayed all that was shown. The theater’s high quality screens were also taken advantage of, used behind the staircase to display colorful moving backdrops, as well as mountain and desert scenes to match Halsey’s debut album cover.

During the performance of one of her earlier songs, “Is There Somewhere”, the singer allowed herself to be held up by members of the crowd, a concert tradition she has executed since her very first shows. Before the end of the song, smoke and confetti were shot up and over the show’s attendees, ending her set by engulfing fans in a beautiful and upbeat atmosphere, something no small theater could have done better.