Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre 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 Meadows Partnership. Providing 10,418 reserved seats, and 5,667 on the lawn seating, the outdoor arena was the largest amphitheater in Orange County until its final closure. The architecture was designed by Gin Wong Associates, based in Los Angeles. Built on a hillside, the venue's unique design created a natural steep slope toward the stage.The site was previously part of Lion Country Safari, one of seven such parks located in the United States. The owner of the safari park held a 29-year lease, and subleased a portion to the owners of the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in 1981. The safari park closed in 1984, with the owner still holding 13 years on the lease, which he then subleased to the operators of the Wild Rivers water park and the Camp Frasier summer camp, which became the neighbors of the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. The water park and summer camp closed in 2011, with the land turned into a housing development by the Irvine Company.
The amphitheatre was famous for hosting popular music festivals, including Area2 Festival, Fishfest, Gigantour, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Projekt Revolution and Uproar Festival, a benefit concert for the recently deceased Social Distortion guitarist Dennis Danell. Since 1987, the establishment was the summer home of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, as well as the annual KROQ Weenie Roast.
Because of the 1993 opening of the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, Irvine Meadows increasingly became an alternative to the much larger Pond, in addition to being a venue for amphitheater tours. Live Nation bought the lease on the Amphitheatre in 1998.
New ownership
The Amphitheatre was renamed to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in April 2000. The 7-year sponsorship deal between Verizon Wireless and SFX Entertainment, then owner of the amphitheatre, was a multimillion-dollar contract. Verizon renewed this contract for another 7 years, extending it to 2014, but did not opt to renew a second time, and the name reverted to the original Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre moniker in 2015. Gwen Stefani was the last performer at the venue on October 29 and 30, 2016.Closure
The Irvine Company had informed the operators of the amphitheatre that the land lease would not be renewed after 2016, so the amphitheatre was closed and demolition started in November 2016, shortly after the final concert. The Irvine Company chose to build housing on the terrain, such that the entire space of the original Irvine-based Lion Country Safari Park would become a 3,700-unit housing development.Live Nation and FivePoint built a temporary amphitheatre at the Orange County Great Park named FivePoint Amphitheatre in 2017, for a limited term of three years, based on the Conditional Use Permit process.
Notable events
1980s
were the first rock act to perform there, on September 18, 1981. They were joined onstage by surprise guest Stevie Nicks, who performed "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" with the band. Ozzy Osbourne recorded a performance called Speak of the Devil at the venue on June 12, 1982, for home video release in Japan, later released on DVD in the US in 2012.Queen performed on September 11, 1982. The Grateful Dead performed at the amphitheatre fifteen times from 1983 through 1989. Oingo Boingo played its annual Halloween concerts at the venue, from 1986 through 1991, and one final time in 1993, before moving the remaining 1994 and 1995 shows to Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Tangerine Dream performed on June 6, 1986, captured on the illicit recording Somnambulistic Imagery. The Smiths performed on August 28 of that year on their The Queen Is Dead tour. Bon Jovi performed for three consecutive nights on their Slippery When Wet tour, from June 20–22, 1987. Michael Jackson performed three concerts at the amphitheatre from November 7–9, 1988, during his Bad tour. Metallica performed for three nights on their ...And Justice for All tour from September 21–23, 1989.