long time appreciator of the kent music scene!! this is a GEM of a place.........great music events.......great folks that run it!!.....love the old theater ambience and the local food fare and shops make this a wonderful overnight celebration spot!! love this place!!
This is an older movie theater converted to a live performance stage with outstanding sound and excellent seating. It books a number of first rate folk acts or their equivalent. If you like folk music (in the broad sense) you are more likely to hear your favorite artist here than anyplace else in the midwest. Check out their website for upcoming acts. It's close to cleveland and certainly worth the drive. Beer and wine available. Parking is easy and free. I'd rather attend a show here than almost anywhere in Cleveland.
The Kent Stage offers some great musical venues and has gotten more diverse over the last few years. For me, the main distraction is the facility. It's dated, dirty and unappealing. With all of the improvements in Kent, it has become even more of an eye sore.
Sure, most theaters have a reputation for being haunted, but I was happily surprised by what a great venue The Kent Stage turned out to be for a paranormal/ metaphysical event. , Not only was the place physically just right for set up, the owners obviously love their theater ghosts and sharing that with like-minded people. It made for a great time.The event was a bargain, too. For a mere $25, participants were entertained and enlightened by 9 presentations over 2 days, plus a ghost tour of downtown Kent, a ghost tour of the theater itself, and a 3 hour ghost hunt in the theater on Saturday night. I would have been happy to pay twice that much, even for the one day that I was able to be there. Everything about the event was well done. The speakers were fun and interesting to listen to. The downtown ghost tour was a shortened version of the Ghost Walk that they hold around Halloween. Based on what I saw here, I would be happy to go back in October for that. They hit up quite a few sites, and the tour was chock full of good tales that were told by guides with a knack for story telling. The ghost tour inside the theater started off with a nice touch of the dramatic, followed by stories that were equally good. I was a little concerned that the number of people on the ghost hunt might be too much for the site, but the place had so many paranormal hot spots that it worked out fine.Kudos to everyone involved in putting on the event. It was well worth the long drive from Columbus.
We always enjoy the music at the Kent Stage. But there is a major problem with the seating. We bought the more expensive seats (over $70 a ticket) for the Kenny Loggins show and were behind a very tall man on a chair that was about 6 inches higher than the theater seats we had. There are chairs in the first 4 rows or so. Last time we when we sat in row J and were able to see much better.Moving the box office to the store front next door is more efficient and makes the lobby more pleasant.Replacing the seats and doing some cleaning both inside and out would make this venue the jewel of Kent.
the place is certainly old but we have been there 4 times now and your close you can see the performers and hear every word GLEN CAMPBELL TWICE RALPH STANLEY AND NACY GRIFFITH ALL GREAT
Although this building is aging, and needs to be updated, it is still an exciting venue for great acts! I have been there in the last eight months to see The Temptations, Hugh Laurie and his band, and the Irish Rovers on their final US Tour. I have been pleased with all three performances, and walked away very proud that this is in my community. Yes, some work is needed on the building, but there is something to be said for the class acts that come to Kent.
We had attended the show including Jason Alan Magic show, which was amazing... but the stage is REALLY SHOWING ITS AGE! Needs a LOT of TLC!
Not a bad seat in the house. It was an awesome concert! The cocktails were great- fair priced and the the johns were clean and nicely kept up.
Small venue ( about 600 seats) gets you very close to the performers. Wide variety of performers from way back to excellent performers who are not everyday household names. Downtown Kent now has lots of food choices before or after the shows. Management is very accommodating. great experiences, shouldn't be missed. For big names, get your tickets early or be disappointed...