FivePoint Amphitheatre
The Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California is home to the FivePoint Amphitheatre, which is an outdoor amphitheater. As a successor for the now-defunct Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, it first opened its doors in 2017. It is the largest amphitheatre in Orange County in terms of overall capacity, with 6,500 bleacher seats, 280 VIP seats, and around 5,500 standing room spaces. The Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa is the only amphitheatre in Orange County that has a larger seated capacity than it does. The venue is owned by the real estate development company FivePoint and is managed by the concert organizer Live Nation, which has its headquarters in Los Angeles. The current facility at Great Park consists of three sections of temporary bleachers and a temporary stage, with future plans calling for the construction of a more permanent amphitheatre on the grounds of Great Park.
Since it first opened its doors in October 2017, FivePoint Amphitheatre has been one of the most important outdoor musical venues in Orange County, attracting a wide variety of musicians, bands, and performers that have made tour stops there.
The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, which was a military air facility that was operational from 1942 to 1999 and is now the location of the Orange County Great Park, was originally located at the site. The Irvine Company made the decision in 2016 not to renew Live Nation’s lease at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which meant that the facility, which had been open for business for 35 years, would be closed for good and maybe demolished to make room for new housing developments. At the beginning of 2017, Live Nation entered into a partnership with the developer of Great Park, FivePoint, with the intention of constructing a temporary venue on its site by the end of the year. Near the terminus of the former runway 34L at MCAS El Toro, a location has been chosen for future development. On March 14th, the Irvine City Council voted unanimously to give the project their blessing. The opening performance for the amphitheatre was supposed to take place on August 26 and feature local bands Young the Giant and Cold War Kids, however it was pushed back to October 5 due to scheduling conflicts. On October 5, as scheduled, the concert took place, formally marking the opening of the arena.
Next Point of Interest: University of California, Irvine