FivePoint Amphitheatre was an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

at the

Orange County Great Park The Great Park is a public park in Irvine, California, with a focus on sports, agriculture, and the arts. It is a non-aviation reuse of the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro. The Orange Co ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. It opened in 2017 as a replacement for the defunct

Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (later known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) was an amphitheater operating from 1981 to 2016 in Irvine, California. History The venue was built in 1980, funded by four local private investors under the Irvine Meado ...

. With 6,500 bleacher seats, 280 VIP seats, and an approximate 5,500 standing room spaces, it was the largest amphitheatre in Orange County by overall capacity and second-largest in seated capacity, only behind the

Pacific Amphitheatre The Pacific Amphitheatre is an amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, Orange County, California. The amphitheatre is located on the grounds of the OC Fair & Event Center. It opened in July 1983 with Barry Manilow as the first performer. The venue curren ...

Costa Mesa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge o ...

. The site is owned by real estate development group FivePoint and was operated by

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based concert promoter

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

. The facility consisted of three temporary bleacher sections and a temporary stage with future plans to establish a more permanent amphitheatre on the Great Park premises. From its opening in October 2017, FivePoint Amphitheatre served as one of Orange County's major outdoor concert venues with many musicians, bands, and performers making tour stops there. On October 21, 2023, the FivePoint Amphitheater permanently closed after six years of operation.

History

The current site of the

originated as Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, a military air base that operated from 1942 to 1999. In 2016, the

Irvine Company The Irvine Company LLC is an American private company focused on real estate development. It is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with a large portion of its operations centered in and around Irvine, California, a planned city of more ...

decided not to renew

's lease at the

, meaning that the 35-year-old venue would permanently close and face demolition to make way for housing developments. In early 2017, Live Nation partnered with Great Park developer FivePoint to establish a temporary venue on its property by the end of the year. A site was selected for development near the end of the former MCAS El Toro runway 34L. On March 14, the Irvine city council unanimously approved the project. The amphitheatre was originally scheduled to open on August 26 with local bands

Young the Giant Young the Giant is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Irvine, California, in 2004. The band's line-up consists of Sameer Gadhia (lead vocals), Jacob Tilley (guitar), Eric Cannata (guitar), Payam Doostzadeh (bass guitar), and Franc ...

and

Cold War Kids Cold War Kids are an American indie rock band from Long Beach, California. Band members are Nathan Willett (vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass guitar), David Quon (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, backing vocals, guit ...

, but the inaugural concert was postponed to October 5. The concert went on as planned on October 5, officially opening the venue. On October 21, 2023, Live Nation announced the FivePoint Amphitheatre would permanently close after the Zac Brown Band event of the same night. The promoter has hoped after the closure of the amphitheatre they would develop and construct a new permanent concert amphitheatre consisting of 14,000 seating within the center of the Great Park area. The city of Irvine ended its partnership with Live Nation to rule out any future development and negotiations in July 2023, citing the proposed size of the venue, noise, and safety concerns. The area of the former amphitheatre will become residential development. On June 14, 2024, the city of Irvine has opened another temporary amphitheater, Great Park Live, while the city constructs a larger, permanent amphitheater slated to be open in 2027.

References

{{Authority control Amphitheaters in California Former music venues in California Buildings and structures in Orange County, California Tourist attractions in Irvine, California Music venues completed in 2017 Buildings and structures in Irvine, California 2023 disestablishments in California