A new Mid City music shop and venue has lined up its first concert.
Mid City Ballroom will host Alvin Youngblood Hart and Muscle Theory on Friday, Aug. 11. Baton Rouge guitarist/songwriter Chris LeBlanc will open the show with an acoustic set. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $10 online.
Mid City Ballroom owner James Fogle said it was appropriate that LeBlanc be the first performer at the new venue.
"(LeBlanc) is a Baton Rouge legend, and he's a good friend of mine," Fogle said. "He will be the first person to ever officially play on the stage."
The following weekend, Aug. 19 and 20, Mid City Ballroom hosts two Beatles '67 Anniversary Celebration performances. The shows will feature local musicians Ben Herrington, Peter Simon, Lee Barbier, Chris Hochkeppel and Micah Blouin performing The Beatles' classics "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Magical Mystery Tour" in their entirety.
Fogle said in the future patrons can expect "a little bit of everything" as far as concerts go.
"We are gonna have lots of jazz, blues and rock shows, youth performances, and all ages shows," he said. "They are all going to be starting earlier in the night, too. The shows won't go past midnight, and that's even pushing it."
Overall, Mid City Ballroom is around 4,000 square feet. The concert space takes up about 1,200 square feet. The venue is located at 136 S. Acadian Thruway. It will have room for about 150 patrons sitting and 200 standing.
The rest of the space will be used for Fogle's music shop, Baton Rouge Music Exchange, which will open later in the month.
In the shop space, patrons can expect vintage amps and guitars for sale, guitar pedals, accessories and drum kits. The shop will also feature a designated showroom for the local amp company Komet.
The move to the new space was a necessity for Fogle. Since opening on Perkins Road, Baton Rouge Music Exchange has been full of equipment.
"I've always been looking for a bigger place," he said. "And I've been talking about opening up a venue for a long, long time. I decided to just jump right in."