Live-music venues worth the trip in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Outdoor amphitheater at Meijer Gardens whose annual Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts, its concert page says, bring the finest national and international musicians to West Michigan, with general-admission terraced lawn seating.

Legends Global’s shed along the Grand River in Grand Rapids, a 12,000-plus-capacity venue its own venue-info page calls cutting-edge and professional, designed to host national touring entertainment.

Live Nation’s Grand Rapids concert hall, a room that carries a dated calendar of touring bills on its own site and admits every guest on mobile entry.

Grand Rapids arena open since 1996, a 12,000-plus-capacity venue managed by Legends Global, its own about page says, and home to the Griffins, the Gold and the Rise, splitting its calendar between touring concerts, comedy, family shows and sports.

West Michigan’s self-described Live Music Legend since 1972, which its info page places in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids with five stages: the 1,500-capacity Showroom, Elevation, The Stache and The Mint indoors, plus the outdoor Rock the Lot.

The Intersection’s 800-capacity room, listed on the operator’s info page among its five Grand Rapids stages and booked on its own tagged line between the 1,500-capacity Showroom and the smaller Stache.

Music society established in 1883 by nine Grand Rapids women, a presenter whose own concert calendar brings touring chamber, jazz and folk artists to the Royce Auditorium inside its Italianate building, a hall that also carries a Grand Rapids Symphony series.

Independently owned Heartside pub, music venue and pinball arcade opened in April 2011 by siblings Tami and Jeff VandenBerg, a bar whose about page puts 24 machines in a front bar that is always free to enter and 420 standing or 210 seated in the live room behind it.

The Intersection’s 400-capacity club room, listed on the operator’s info page among its five Grand Rapids stages and carrying the complex’s smaller touring bills on its own tagged line.