When Sandstone Became Kansas City’s Summer Concert Destination

If you grew up around Kansas City in the 1980s, summer concerts eventually meant one name: Sandstone.

The outdoor venue in Bonner Springs opened in 1984 as the Sandstone Center for the Performing Arts. With an approximately 18,000-person capacity and a sprawling lawn behind the reserved seats, it gave Kansas City-area music fans a new way to experience major acts beneath the summer sky.

And Sandstone wasted little time building memories.

On June 2, 1984, Alabama and Juice Newton appeared there. That inaugural-era season also brought Judas Priest, Jimmy Buffett, The Go-Go’s and Yes.

The names became even bigger as the decade continued. Don Henley, Eric Clapton, Huey Lewis and the News, Heart and Sting played Sandstone in 1985. Later ’80s shows included Duran Duran with Erasure in 1987 and Def Leppard during its massive Hysteria tour in August 1988.

For many Kansas Citians, though, remembering Sandstone isn’t just about who was onstage. It’s remembering the drive to Bonner Springs, finding your place on the lawn, watching the sun disappear and hearing thousands of people sing along.

The venue has carried several corporate names since then and is now known as Azura Amphitheater. But after more than four decades, plenty of locals still know exactly what you mean when you say:

“I saw them at Sandstone.”