The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into Central Iowa’s newest entertainment venue is a colorful floor-to-ceiling mural two local artists created.

The next thing you’ll notice at Vibrant Music Hall is the shelving behind six of the venue’s seven bars that are designed to resemble the layout of Iowa’s farm fields. Many of the beers and spirits that will be served at Waukee venue are made in Iowa.

The homegrown theme continues with Vibrant’s management staff, all of which have Iowa ties.

“While Live Nation is new to Iowa and new to this community, all of our management staff has been hired locally which has been a real cool feature,” said Haleigh Biancalana, Vibrant’s general manager. “There’s a lot of us that have a passion for ensuring that this [venue] plays a good part into what we already have here in the Des Moines music community.”

Vibrant Music Hall, designed by the Des Moines-based OPN Architects Inc., will hold its inaugural event on Sunday. The entertainment hall, located at 2938 Grand Prairie Parkway in Waukee, is operated by Live Nation Entertainment Inc. It is the only venue in Iowa operated by Live Nation, which has about 150 other venues across the country.

The music hall is the centerpiece of KeeTown Loop, a 40-acre, $100 million development on the northwest corner of Grand Prairie Parkway and Ashworth Road. KeeTown Loop, spearheaded by Quad Cities developer Harry Coin, is expected to include retail shops and restaurants. A four-story, 126-room Aloft Hotel is under construction at 2848 Grand Prairie Parkway, just north of the venue. A McDonald’s fast-food restaurant is being built at Grand Prairie Parkway and Southeast Esker Ridge Drive.

Construction of the event venue began in May 2022 after the issuance of a building permit valued at $25 million.

In fall 2021, Coin announced that Live Nation Entertainment had signed a 20-year lease agreement to occupy and operate Vibrant Music Hall. Live Nation Entertainment, which includes Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts and Live Nation Sponsorships, is expected to bring 100 or more events annually to the venue. Six events are scheduled for November including Sunday’s concert by Needtobreathe, a rock band from South Carolina. In May, the rock band Chicago is slated to appear.

“We want to bring a variety of genres that haven’t performed [in Central Iowa] before or maybe have been here but want to perform in a different setting,” said Biancalana, who previously worked at the Iowa Event Center.

Vibrant Music Hall’s capacity is about 3,300, depending on whether seating is set up on the main floor or for standing room only. The second level of seats overlooks the hall’s main floor and includes box-suite-like seating with high-top tables and chairs. General admission seating is behind the premium seats.

The venue’s stage, which measures 70-foot by 80-foot, can be adjusted to accommodate a large band or single-person act.

“The stage is quite large for a venue of this size,” Biancalana said. “We’re excited to know that the stage will never limit us from kinds of acts we can have here.”

The event space is wide, providing more concert-goers the ability to get close to performers, Biancalana said.

“This really makes for a great experience for both the fan and artist,” she said. “It’s very close; it’s very intimate.”

The venue’s technology is among the newest on the market, Biancalana said. “The technology, the sound, the lights … it’s all very top-of-the-line aesthetics. They thought of it all, which will be great for the artists and the guests.”

Three bars are on the main level and two others are on the second level. There’s also a bar in main entrance and one in the Red Room, a VIP lounge that also offers a full menu.

Vibrant Music Hall, which less than a mile north of Interstate Highway 80, will become a place artists will stop at on their way to and from other markets, Biancalana said. “This will be a place that will have a variety of music, entertainment, comedy that anyone can come to and enjoy.”

More information: For more information about Vibrant Music Hall, click here.

Comparing seating capacity of area venues
Vibrant Music Hall was designed to be a medium-sized venue, filling the gap between the Des Moines area’s small and large venues, said Haleigh Biancalana, the hall’s general manager. “We’re the ideal size for the performers who have been on the small stages but aren’t quite ready for the big arenas.”

Here’s the seating capacity of Vibrant and other Des Moines area entertainment venues:

• 800 – Wooly’s, 504 E. Locust St., Des Moines
• 1,400 – Hoyt Sherman Place, 1501 Woodland Ave., Des Moines
• 2,744 – Des Moines Civic Center, 221 Walnut St., Des Moines
• 3,300 – Vibrant Music Hall, 2938 Grand Prairie Pkwy., Waukee
• 16,110 – Wells Fargo Arena, 233 Center St., Des Moines

Floor-to-ceiling mural
The colorful floor-to-ceiling mural in the entryway of Vibrant Music Hall was created by local artists Jimmy Navarro and Jordan Sandquist. The mural, called “Footloose,” features a variety of footwear including cowboy boots, stiletto heels and Air Jordan shoes. Some of the footwear is owned by Navarro. The mural also includes designs created by John Bosley, owner of Bozz Prints in West Des Moines. Photo by Duane Tinkey