Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (formerly known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre) was an amphitheatre located in Irvine, California. The establishment was built in 1980 by Irvine Meadows Partnership (with 4 local investors) and it opened in 1981. It was the largest amphitheatre in Orange County, with 10,418 reserved seats and 5,667 on the lawn. The architect was Gin Wong Associates of Los Angeles. The unique design of this venue is that it's built on a hillside so the seats have a steep slope toward the stage.
Video Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (Irvine, California)
History
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 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.
Since 1987, the establishment has been the summer home of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, as well as the annual KROQ Weenie Roast.
The amphitheatre was famous for hosting popular music festivals, which includes: Area2 Festival, Fishfest, Gigantour, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Projekt Revolution and Uproar Festival, a benefit concert for the recently deceased Social Distortion guitarist Dennis Danell. Ozzy Osbourne recorded a performance called Speak of the Devil at the venue on June 12, 1982, for home video release in Japan; said video was eventually released on DVD in the US in 2012.
Pop superstar Michael Jackson performed three concerts at the amphitheatre November 7-9, 1988 during his Bad Tour.
Because of the 1993 opening of the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now Honda Center), Irvine Meadows became increasingly an alternative to the much larger Pond, in addition to being a venue for amphitheater tours.
Oingo Boingo would play its annual Halloween concerts here from 1986 through 1991, and one final time in 1993, before moving the remaining 1994 and 1995 shows to Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Live Nation (formerly SFX Entertainment) bought the lease on the Amphitheatre in 1998.
Tangerine Dream performed on June 6, 1986 recorded on bootleg Sonambulistic Imagery.
The Smiths performed on August 28, 1986 on the band's The Queen is Dead tour.
The Grateful Dead performed at the amphitheatre 15 times from 1983 through 1989.
Prince and The New Power Generation performed at the amphitheatre during the Jam of the Year Tour on October 12, 1997. Miley Cyrus performed at the amphitheatre in October 2008 for the promotional show of the series Hannah Montana.
Fall Out Boy performed on March 26 on their Winter is Coming tour in 2016.
Adele performed in 2016 on her Adele Live 2016 tour.
The Amphitheatre was renamed to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre 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. It did not opt to renew a second time and the name reverted to its original "Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre" in 2015.
Gwen Stefani was the last performer for the venue on October 29 and 30, 2016.
The Amphitheatre's land lease expired in 2017. The Irvine Company opted not to renew it, and will instead build apartment buildings on the terrain, as occurred with nearby water park Wild Rivers, which closed in 2011. The city of Irvine is considering a replacement amphitheatre at the Orange County Great Park.
The amphitheater was demolished in November 2016.
Maps Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (Irvine, California)
See also
- List of contemporary amphitheatres
References
External links
- Irvine Meadows Says Its Final Goodbyes Before Getting Demolished for Apartments - OC Weekly
Source of article : Wikipedia
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