Providence Medical Center Amphitheater

Was passing through KC and had tickets to see Keith Urban. Getting in to Park was somewhat confusing as the Parking people didn’t quite have their act together but we made it in. The Parking is split up into 2 different areas (North & South) so afterwards that helped on getting out, at least for our Parking which I will call the North Lot.

We were hoping that with a new sponsor the management of the parking and ticket check-​in would have improved. I hate to say it but I believe it has actually gotten worse. The process to get in to park is not efficient, then you are forced to park in paid parking (which costs $ 10.00 — you wouldn’t know that because there isn’t a sign anywhere that says the cost), and then the inefficiency to get your ticket checked is shocking. It’s not good and needs some serious improvement. We go to 70 concerts a year and this unfortunately is the worst venue for these two things.
Also they don’t have wrist bands for people over 21 so they have to check your ID every time you walk up to buy a drink. It takes so much more time to get a drink.

Went to an event here this past weekend. The venue is worn down and is kinda disgraceful for the Kansas City area. It needs major updating. They also didn’t have any drinks but beer by the end of the event. It was hard for kids and family.

Cool concert venue but it needs a little updating. First off the bathrooms could use a renovation. Second the parking lot is gravel and could be paved. Last but not least they should add Wi-​Fi because for it being named after a wireless company this was a blackhole for my cell phone all night. Other than those minor details this place has awesome acoustics and comfortable seats. The lawn area looked fun but for a 3+ hour Dave Mathews Band set I was happy to have a seat. Beer/​Pop/​Water vendors were every where with their coolers and prices were OK for a concert. If the right band at the right time comes here we will be back.

Sandstone (Cricket Wireless — Verizon Wireless — it will always be Sandstone to me) is Kansas City’s large outdoor Amphitheatre venue and has been around for over 25 years. I attended the Mumford and Sons concert last year and The Avett Brothers concert this summer.
The Mumford and Sons concert was a hot mess. As the hottest band of the year — and the last concert before their announced hiatus which is still ongoing — It was a sell out crowd. The parking situation was so bad that we were stalled on I-​70 for almost an hour. They need to figure out a better way to deal with traffic. Parking was crazy and disorganized. Once I finally was parked, things improved somewhat, The pit area was packed full and it was difficult for a short gal to see, but the crowd control was good, lines weren’t too bad for concessions and the bathroom line was not horrible.
This past summer, I went to the Avett Brothers concert, which was much less crowded. Getting into the parking lot was still a hassle, but once parked everything was fine again, I had purchased tickets through the fan club, so we were in an exclusive area up front in the pit area. That was nice. Food and beverages are not cheap, but that is expected.
I am kind of spoiled with seeing bands up close. Seeing a band at Sandstone is more of an «experieince» with friends and unless I really love the band — or a gropu of friends are going with me — it’s probably better to just listen to the album at home.

I’m not a native of the area, living here since 1998. this was my first venture to Sandstone (yes I even call it what the natives call it). It was Verizion Wireless Amphitheater and now Cricket Wireless Amphitheater. I was gifted tickets to the «Rock N Roll Dream Concert» this past Saturday night. Looked on the website for what we could and couldn’t bring into the venue, how to get there and where to park. We were in line early for parking so got a spot up front and didn’t have to walk too far into the venue. We met friends in the parking lot and our General Admission tickets allowed us to sit in seats, which was much better than being on the lawn for our old tired bones.
Beer and Concessions were expensive. $ 4.00 for a bottle of water, $ 8.00 for Beer and some cocktails, $ 13.00 for frozen drinks. Parking was also expensive at $ 10.00.
It was the hottest night of the year we went, the bands were mediocre at best and we left before listening to the last to acts. Folks were starting to get a bit intoxicated and there was the unique smell that is only found in the air at concert that was getting quite strong near where we were sitting.
If you go, plan to bring lots of money for concessions and beverages, they are pricey, as is parking, but that is just part of the whole experience. It is a well kept venue for its age, the bathrooms were acceptable and porta potties in the parking lot… they were even well kept.
I would go back to the venue again for another event, but there are better outdoor venues… Starlight Theater being one.

Will never attend another show here again. Saw Mumford and Sons. They performed awesome and sound was great however:
1. First getting to the parking lot — Signs are not clear and no one is really directing traffic. Took us 45 minutes after exiting the highway just to get to a spot and had to pay $ 10? They could learn a little from observing chiefs/​royals set up.
2. Seating — we had reserved seats. I could have gotten pit tickets, but thought that I would be able to see better from a seat and did not want to mess with the crowd. Well — not really. The slope/​grade/​rise of the seats is really poor. I am 5’9 and could not see over the people in front of me who seemed to be of normal height.
3. The worst is getting out. We sat in our car in line waiting to get out for over an hour. All of the lots choke down to just a couple of single file exits — one woman was trying to direct 8 lines of cars coming at her and she looked like she had the smarts of a carnie reject. They really need to hire a trained traffic directors rather than place their concession stand employees out there to fend off drunk road ragers at the end of the evening. No one was out at the main streets controlling red lights, etc and I noticed 4 KCK cops just sitting and chatting. Really! So, it was just a bottled necked mess. Oh, and we upgraded to park in VIP — you would think if you paid more, you would get a VIP exit?
I can handle the large prices of beer although they do make you place your canned 22 oz beer in a 16 oz cup? Apparently, math is not a strong suit of the management team.
All-​in-​all, this place is in the country and ran by country folk.

Let’s call it what it is and what it will always be known as — Sandstone. They can change the name all they want, but it’s freakin’ Sandstone until they tear the thing down and burn the land it was built on.
Anyway, this venue is just OK. The only reason I say this is because the best view is in the GA pit and the pit isn’t that comfortable of a place to be. Of all the venues I attend, this is the one that has the most shoving of any venue I’ve attended. The sound from the lawn is OK, but it’s just hard to see what’s going on on stage. What you can see from the lawn, however, is some of the best people watching in all of Kansas City.
Sandstone let’s you bring in one sealed bottle of water and you can even bring in your own food. But, no lawn chairs for the lawn seats, just blankets.
Beer prices are ridiculous here. Seriously some of the most expensive I’ve seen in KC for a Bud Light. Try to tailgate in the parking lot beforehand if you can.
Parking tip: Get there early and park in the paved lot on the East side of the venue. Quicker to get in and out and a lot more comfortable overall. It says $ 20, but it’s still just the standard $ 10 parking fee.

I recently visited this amphitheater to see Mumford & Sons. I’ve been to lots of outdoor amphitheaters and many with grass seating, so I have some frame of reference here.
The show, well, that was amazing. Fantastic.
The sound was also good and the lighting was good.
But I have a few bones to pick.
This place needs a bunch of people directing traffic. Lines were jammed up coming in. Then leaving, the parking lot was like a giant, menacing game of Frogger.
One gate was open for departure and no one was helping keep order in the lot to ensure efficient merging. So people were coming from all directions and playing chicken to get in line. Scary. And on top of the threats to life and limb and auto, you pay $ 10 to park! So wrong.
The bathrooms were clean and lines kept moving, so points there.
The beer stands are ridiculously priced. Highway robbery. Taps were $ 8 each and tall cans were $ 10. Grrrr.
This would be a last choice venue for me for seeing future shows.
It’s not so much that it’s bad, it’s just not good.

I’ve never had a bad experience at this venue — it’s a bit of a treck from KC, but worth it to see some of the great bands that I have, i. e — The Lumineers, The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age for $ 35 lawn seats. They have $ 10 beers and semi expensive food, but that’s to be expected with any venue. Having never experienced Sandstone, I have nothing to compare it too beyond the outdoor venue we had in Northern VA — this place is smaller, but still good for the price!

Once known as Sandstone, this place has gone downhill big time from it’s glory days. Gone is the seating in the lower level. Gone are the video displays to the left and right of the stage. Gone are the video displays in the lawn area. Gone are the night after night bookings of shows throughout the summer.
The vending prices are outrageous with beer costing $ 8 to alcohol costing upwards of $ 15. Want a burger and fries while you’re enjoying your favorite band? Hope you have good credit because you’re going to be financing that meal.
I’m not sure what cause the demise of this once great concert venue, but whatever it was it was efficient at making what once was a staple of summer memories into a complete dump.

This place will always be Sandstone to me.
On this trip I watched the Queens of the Stone Age. Our tickets were in the pit, closest to the stage. It seemed that the amount of tickets was appropriate for the amount of space available. The sound was great, and of course QOTSA rocked.
The bathrooms here, while plenty, are out of date. Hows about a little privacy? And the beers… They had 22 ounce tall cans for $ 10. And if you wanted to take your beer with you to the pit, you were provided a 16 ounce cup at the entrance. Now I’m carrying two beers. Good thing I had no intention of relaxing and enjoying the show!
I have seen many awesome acts here and I’m sure I’ll be back. But not without frowning and grumping a bit. «Ooohh man! They are playing at SANDSTONE!»

I’m having trouble reviewing this venue without the crowd influencing my review but I’ll to my best. I saw Sponge, Filter and Live but left before Everclear took the stage. The sound was actually pretty good on the lawn so the sound team did well even with these bands that aren’t what I would call conically literate but they also only have 4 people to mix.
The had terrible big screens showing what was happening on stage that were mostly useless until it got dark. And they were so small that they might as well not had them, bring some binoculars if you’re sitting on the lawn.
The staff interactions were pretty pleasant, although rare. The tickets were cheap, ours were free but I hear they were like 15 bucks otherwise. Unfortunately the amount of fun you can have is throttled back by over inflated beer prices. A 16 oz bud light will run you 6 dollars, some drafts are 8 – 10. I didn’t understand why there were different prices, all I knew is that I was drinking craft beers for 2 bucks a pint two nights ago and there was no way I was going to switch to Bud Light for 3 times that. And 4 bucks for water while not being able to bring your own bottle in is simply ridiculous. I wonder how that works in summer when people are overheating and unwilling to drop 20 bucks on water over a 3 hour show, it seams a little unethical at that point right?
The host and talent were as expected. The other concert goers were pretty trashy so I would advise that even though you are a classy well trimmed person, keep in mind what kind of crowd your concert is going to draw and realize you will have to put up with people that think filter is the last great American band alive.

With my free tickets in hand, I attended my first show at Cricket Wireless (formerly Sandstone) Ampitheater. The show was a total 90’s time warp of Sponge, Filter, Live, and Everclear. Although the crowd was red-​necky, hard rocker folks, I didn’t have any annoying or uncomfortable experiences (no fights witnessed, etc.), but it did make for GREAT people watching. :)
The sound was impressive and loud. The first few bands sounded wonderful… just like their albums. Everclear, well not so much, but I think it was more of a singer/​band issue than a sound issue. The lawn seating was a plenty even though we got there late. We had enough space to not feel crowded. Our view was relatively unobstructed, but we were pretty far away. The monitors were big enough to make out major details, but not that clear. They do allow smoking at this outdoor theater, and there were MANY kinds of smoke, so keep that in mind if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing.
The bathrooms were always working, and it was a miracle that the women’s lines were shorter than the men’s. They were equipped with enough supplies, but definitely got dirtier as the concert progressed which I think is a concert norm.
I thought the food and beer was somewhat reasonable for a concert venue. The best beer deal is 16 oz beers for $ 6, and mine was served by the nicest beer lady ever. Other prices were a bit much ($ 10 for 24oz, $ 8 for 16oz draw, $ 8 for mixed drink, etc.). Brats were $ 5, pretzels $ 4, water $ 4, yada, yada. It’s overpriced concert food but better prices than most venues. One nice thing is you can bring in 1 sealed 1L bottle of water per person. Picnic stuff is also allowed as long as it’s not too big. I was able to bring in a small cooler like bag of cheese, crackers, hummus, etc. with no problem.
Parking is $ 10 and you essentially park in a field. The website says no tailgating, but we saw lots of people doing it. If you park in the back corner there seem to be some additional, unmarked exits which were a great escape as the traffic was bad.
The logistics and traffic were the worst part of this venue. For this concert, the interstate was backed up at least 1 – 1.5 miles prior to the exit. Then, you had to crawl through town to get to the ampitheater. It was a shocking amount of traffic that we were thankfully able to avoid when exiting. So if you want to be on time for the show, then plan ahead for that traffic mess.
All in all, it’s not as nice as Starlight and has traffic logistics issues so I’m giving it a 3.

I haven’t been here in over 10 years and it’s EXACTLY as it was then. I think they have replaced the seats closest to the stage with white folding chairs. Luckily, we had seats one section up so they were still the «built in» blue fold-​down seats. Actually much more comfortable than the little white folding things that people paid more money for.
I liked that as I entered, I didn’t have to go through a turnstyle; those things bug me and they are just pointless. LOL After entering, I was given several free tickets for some small shows in the coming weeks. Since I live about 15 miles from Sandstone/CapFed/Verizon/Cricket/“who knows what next year”, it was a sort of nice treat. I might just head back out for something.
I had to laugh that I was sitting in an Amphitheater owned by a mobile phone company and I couldn’t get cell service to save my life. Granted, I don’t use Cricket service but that shouldn’t matter that much.
The price of food and beverage were average. I got a pretzel and it was under 5 bucks. The alcohol was reasonable too and pretty typical of what is generally offered at sporting events and such.
I really wish the screens were larger. I wasn’t sitting that far away but if the Amphitheater could make one upgrade, I would suggest bigger and brighter screens. I would hate to be at the top of the lawn. I’m not sure I could have seen them.
All in all. not a bad place to go. I like that it’s «low frill» and still getting used considering it «out of the way» for most people who live in the KC area.

All the big towns have amphitheaters and Sandstone is Kansas City’s amphitheater. The old girl doesn’t host as many shows as it used to, probably because of some newer venues and also because some of its production specifications are a little bit outdated, but when the shows do happen this place can be a lot of fun.
The new owners, who have been around for a couple of years now, have cleaned and fixed a lot of things that made the place feel a little run down. I will never say the bathrooms here are fit for royalty, but at least the water works in them now. The food is still processed venue food, but there are more and better options than every before. The beer lines still run long, but now they have vendors who make their way through the lawn and up and down the walk ways for your over imbibing pleasure. My favorite thing that the new ownership has done is remove the front seats which allow for a good amount of people be down close to the artists. I think this adds a little more atmosphere and lessens some of the disconnect from the stage and the crowd. There are still reserve seats available, with a decent view too, if you’re someone who wants the option of sitting down in between acts. Parking is going to cost you $ 10, but the staff is real good about getting you in and parked quickly so you can get yourself into the show.
Now, there is a reserved lot in the back which costs more, but there is only one way into the main parking lot. GET TO YOUR SHOW EARLY. If you think you’re going to arrive 15 minutes before the show starts and get in then you are sorely mistaken. Like I said earlier, the parking staff is good at getting you in and parked, but you have to remember 17,000 other people are also attending and they’re entering and leaving just like you are. Show up a little early, bring a couple of chairs and a cooler and enjoy yourself.

Sandstone is what it is. I’ve been attending shows there since it’s beginning. Until Livestrong, it was all we had I attended Blink 182 last night. This is not a review of the concert, but a review of the venue. I go to one to two major concerts, atleast, every year. I saw the Grateful Dead at Sandstone, and Foo Fighters, Kid Rock (3 times) Blink 182 (twice now). I saw Pearl Jam there and many many other bands.
From 2009 to now, things have changed. When I tried to record from my phone at the 2009 Blink 182 concert at Sandstone, the employees were snappy and edgy, even for a crappy phone recording, all the way back in the seats. Give it up, man. They tried to confiscate several of the crowds phones and cameras (not mine, I was slick). I have a tiny purse camera I have with me… crappy pictures, give it a rest.
Last night, I had a great experience. I paid 17.00 (yep, 17.00) to park in premier parking. I’m scared I’m going to forget where I park, and that is how I retaliate. I arrived about in time for the parking lot to open, and I parked in a parking lot, marked with numbers, 2 spaces from the opening gate… well, that problem was solved.
They first you at the door, just doing their job. I walked in, and noticed the vibe had changed. Went to the merch ten. I passed on the food, yuck, barbeque pulled pork sandwich or cheeseburger. I don’t drink beer at concerts, unless it’s above 90 degrees. I had a sealed bottle of water with me, and my purse. My camera, my phone, and my wallet.
I found my seat easily, by being directed by very pleasant staff. For this show, they had lifted aa-​vvw seats out, and it was an area destined to fit over 10,000 people strong mosh pit. I’ve always had a seat. I’m short, and that is my complaint. I can’t see over the bozos who stand in front of me. Honda Civic Tour productions solved the problem, by cramming everyone in the mosh pit.
Bored with the first two bands, once the main attraction hit, I was able to see clearly, and even record 4 songs, as everyone else was doing, too. No one spouting to put the phones away. The sound was really good. The show and seating, and everything, even parking, was easy. Organized, and great staff. The bathrooms were clean, and it was another great experience. My only issue is that it is so far away from where I live. I know most shows, someone will stand a few rows up and never sit down, and my view might be blocked, unless they cram everyone into a 10,000 person mosh pit. Just remember, everyone behind you paid for their ticket to. I’m glad they had the huge mosh pit, this time.

I went to this venue recently to see Jack Johnson and ALO perform. The show was the best I’ve ever seen, but that has little to do with the location!
The amphitheater is actually a great place to see shows, with the stage visible from any angle, and every seat having a great view.
It is open air, which is both a blessing and a curse. When the weather is beautiful, it makes everything better, but when the weather is bad, the place can get nasty pretty quick, particularly in the lawn seating.
Parking was easy, and relatively cheap ($ 10) with people guiding you all the way. You can come and go as you please, since they provide you with a receipt.
Concessions are pricey, but that is to be expected, and the service is great.
All in all, a great venue. Just check the weather before you go!

No problems with Sandstone. We had «will call» tickets (paper tickets were lost in the mail… blah blah blah) and there was a slight delay and some confusion over that, but they handled it well and got it straightened out. I was actually waiting for an argument because I was expecting them to say they couldn’t help us. So that went well.
Parking was a snap… although a little pricey. 10 bucks? Really? Fine. They do have guys directing you were to go and even how far to pull forward in your imaginary parking spot (it’s in a field)… that’s helpful for people like me.
They allow cameras and bottled water, provided it is sealed when you enter. There are also water refill stations. Beer and water was being circulated by vendors that come to you… and there were even servers that would bring you fancy drinks if you flagged them down.
We saw Jack Johnson and really enjoyed the show. Only complaint was people won’t sit still… up and down from their seats… I had to stand up each time someone wanted to go do whatever was so much more important than the concert. Grr…

I really like Sandstone, they were where I went to my first concert ever– *N Sync! hehe. They have a good venue for seeing large acts, since they have lawn seating and that makes for some pretty cheap seats. If it rains, it can get pretty muddy, so watch out for that. Otherwise, I enjoy sitting on the lawn– it makes for the perfect summer concert.
The parking is pretty good, they have it really organized. The concessions were a little overpriced for what we were getting, and the food wasn’t that good either. But then again, I was there for Justin Timberlake, and not some nachos, right? I also saw Maroon 5 and John Mayer here; they were good too.
Although the Sprint Center has probably taken away a lot of business from Sandstone, I still think it’s a great venue and I hope that good concerts will continue to come to Bonner Springs. They need it!