Irvine indie rock band Young the Giant (frontman Sameer Gadhia pictured) will open the new FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on Saturday, Aug. 26. (Photo by Joshua Sudock, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Live Nation Entertainment announced that FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine will offcially open on Saturday, Aug. 26. The 12,000-seat outdoor venue will replace Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which closed at the end of October, on a private land adjacent to the Orange County Great Park. (Image courtesy of Live Nation)

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Live Nation Entertainment announced that FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine will offcially open on Saturday, Aug. 26. The 12,000-seat outdoor venue will replace Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which closed at the end of October, on a private land adjacent to the Orange County Great Park. (Image courtesy of Live Nation)



Just six months after the demolition of the beloved Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in November, concert promoter Live Nation, in partnership with developer FivePoint Communities, have announced that a temporary amphitheatre will officially open on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Irvine-based rock band Young the Giant and Cold War Kids, who also have O.C. roots, along with New York indie band Joywave will be the first to grace the freshly constructed stage, officially dubbed FivePoint Amphitheatre.

“It feels like a full journey,” Young the Giant frontman Sameer Gadhia said. The band, which includes guitarists Jacob Tilley and Eric Cannata, bassist Payam Doostzadeh and drummer Francois Comtois, served as the support act for No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani at the final two shows at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Oct. 29 and 30.

“I was just back in Irvine last week sort of reminiscing actually about some of the places we used to play back at home, like Heritage Park Community Center,” he continued. “I think we played, like, a gazebo outside there. We played every random place that you can play in Irvine, so it’s great that we’re finally making a splash by doing this big opening for this new amphitheater. We are all very excited … and so are our families.”

Tickets for the show will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, May 5, at Livenation.com. In honor of the first show, the first 500 tickets sold will be $20 with the rest ranging from $29.50-$39.50.

On March 14, the Irvine City Council unanimously approved the construction of the temporary 12,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater, which will be located on FivePoint’s property adjacent to the Orange County Great Park. Thousands of music fans lobbied for a new venue by signing the #SaveLiveMusicIrvine petitions and dozens showed up to council meetings to make their voices heard.

“That was a real testament for music lovers and people who love going to live shows,” Bret Gallagher, president of Live Nation Southern California, said of the council approving the new venture. “That was a proud moment and a great moment for live music.”

Though the 2017 concert season at the amphitheater will be an abbreviated one, with dates scheduled on through October, Gallagher said there will be a few surprises and more artists announced in the coming weeks and months and that Live Nation is already looking ahead to 2018.

“We’re getting a ton of inquiries on 2018, which will be a full season,” he said.

With the temporary structure tapping out with a three-year deal, for now, the ultimate goal is for a permanent amphitheater to be built within the Great Park. Gallagher said that such a venue would be a complement to what the city of Irvine is already constructing within its Cultural Terrace.

“It would be a cornerstone property to have there and it will be a great gathering spot for people from all over the country to come see some live music,” he said. “We’ve never wavered on that, our long term goal has always been to get a permanent site at the Great Park.”

For 36 years, Irvine Meadows served as the go-to local spot for larger summer concert tours by artists ranging from metal giants such as Metallica and Iron Maiden to mellow rockers like Jimmy Buffett and the Dave Matthews Band. Michael Jackson brought his Bad solo tour to the venue in 1988, the Eagles reunited and kicked off their Hell Freezes Over tour there in 1994 and Oingo Boingo’s Halloween shows in the ‘80s and early ‘90s became a holiday tradition.

The Irvine Company, which owns the land on which Irvine Meadows was located, tore down the venue to build the next phase of its Los Olivos apartment community. Meanwhile Live Nation, which was responsible for booking the venue, partnered with FivePoint Communities to come up with an immediate solution, something that could be constructed in time for the 2017 concert season.

“Our greatest worry and concern was if we went dark for a season or two or three as the community considered its options, the memory of Irvine Meadows would fade, perhaps to the point where somebody or some entity might decide it wasn’t necessarily important to have a venue of this size and scale that could bring in these kinds of acts and bring this number of people together,” said Steve Churm, chief communications officer for FivePoint, which is also overseeing the development of thousands of residences surrounding the Great Park. “We thought it was important to plant a flag as soon as possible and put on as many shows as possible right away.”

Churm said that FivePoint is both honored and humbled to have its name on a venue where “so many people of different ages, colors, different incomes and interests will come … that’s the essence of who we are as a community builder.”

Like Live Nation, FivePoint also has a vested interest in seeing the temporary venue turned into a full-functioning permanent venture at the Great Park, Churm added.

“We’re providing a bridge between what has been a 35-plus year tradition at Irvine Meadows to hopefully what will be a permanent facility,” he said. “We have a very vested interest for the community, not for FivePoint, because ultimately we want to see this venue built on city land. We believe our bridge needs to be completed and that would be done, and successfully so, if a permanent venue is built, whether it’s by us or someone else making that happen. We’re not stopping with the interim facility, nor is the interim facility the permanent answer. It shouldn’t be.”