Irvine Meadows Amphitheater officially closed it’s doors after 35 years of music history in Irvine last year. On March 14th, 2017 the Irvine City Council met to vote on the approval of a temporary replacement amphitheater at the Great Park until a permanent one can be built. They voted unanimously in favor of the amphitheater.

Having never been to a city council meeting before I had no idea how the process worked. It started out with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer then went into announcements and public comments. Finally, the council began to address the new amphitheater.

After hearing the plans for how the amphitheater is going to operate, public comments were taken by the council. There were a lot of people there to speak on why this amphitheater needed to happen. Representatives from companies like Live Nation, Fivepoint, IUSD and the Pacific Symphony were present and spoke as well. A grand total of 21 people shared their views with the city council and they were all in favor of building the amphitheater.

The seats in the council chamber were filled with a sea of red shirts because of the Save Live Music Irvine group. They handed out shirts before the meeting began and encouraged people to come out and show support for the new amphitheater.

Music fans of Southern California should be very excited that this was approved. We will once again no longer have to drive up to LA or down to San Diego to see shows. Irvine will again be on the map as a place to go for really awesome live shows.

This will be a definite upgrade from Irvine Meadows. Not only will traffic be lessened by the fact that there are more roads in and out but the mile and a half walk that everyone hated at Irvine Meadows will be gone. Ticket prices will include the price of parking as well, which means no long lines to get into the venue parking lot on the day of the show.

The goal is to open for the latter half of the coming summer season and the temporary permit will last until 2020. In the meantime get excited that live music once again has a place to be played in Irvine.