Granada Theater

The Granada Theater is Lawrence's premier live music venue, a converted 1927 movie palace on Massachusetts Street that retains its ornate Spanish Revival interior. It's a standing room floor with a capacity of around 800 — a good size for seeing bands up close without the impersonal scale of a larger arena.

Lawrence has produced an unusual number of musicians for a city its size, and the Granada is where local music culture crystallises. National touring acts in indie rock, Americana, and hip-hop play here regularly. The venue also hosts events and private parties. Check the calendar before arriving — if there's something good on, it's worth planning around.

bars and cafes bar
A story
The Granada opened in 1927 as a movie palace, one of the grand picture houses that spread across American cities in the 1920s. Its ornate Spanish Revival interior survived largely intact because Lawrence never had the money to modernize it, and the building was converted to a live music venue in the 1980s rather than demolished. It is now one of the most historically atmospheric concert rooms in the Midwest.