We assess Irvine’s shiny new “temporary” amphitheater during a recent Pacific Symphony performance.
Outdoor venues in Orange County, past and present, have a checkered history. Some of us harbor less-than-fond memories of the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (I could never bring myself to call it the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre), demolished in 2016, and the more recently departed FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine’s Great Park. The O.C. Fair’s Pacific Amphitheatre, 41 years young and still with us, has its nostalgic fans but it’s no Hollywood Bowl.
The complaints about outdoor concert spaces are universal: crowded parking lots, long walks from the car, sky-high food vendor prices, imperfect sound systems, and seats that would delight a medieval-torture fetishist. And every amphitheater in the world, it seems, gets complaints from neighbors about the noise levels. Turn that Tchaikovsky down!
There’s a new kid in town called Great Park Live, and the city of Irvine has gone to considerable lengths to address all the usual amphitheatrical complaints – commendable, since this venue is scheduled to last only until its permanent replacement is finished sometime in 2027 or ‘28.
“This project came together with decisive council direction, and it went up in a hurry,” said Great Park Executive Director Pete Carmichael. Time was of the essence, since the nearby FivePoint Amphitheatre closed abruptly last year and the city clearly didn’t want the Great Park to lose its cachet as O.C.’s outdoor concert capital. FivePoint, a privately run space operated under a contract with promoter Live Nation, had long been the subject of noise complaints from nearby residents. Irvine officials decided to build a city-owned amphitheater after they failed to reach an agreement with Live Nation on a larger venue the company was proposing.
The new facility opened on June 14 after a short, frenzied construction period. The often-quoted price tag of $15 million for Great Park Live is a bit misleading, Carmichael said. “We made a lot of improvements that were park-wide. We put infrastructure in place that will serve the park in the long term, such as enlarged parking (lots). We added close to 2,000 stalls.” Carmichael estimated the cost of the amphitheater itself to be around $8 million.
Still, that’s a lot of dough for a temporary venue. But Carmichael said that the “temporary” label is also misleading. “We’re talking about how Great Park Live as an events venue might have a longer life than that – perhaps not national touring acts, but a valuable asset for community events.”
So how did this hastily constructed summer home for Pacific Symphony (and a bunch of tribute bands) perform during the orchestra’s recent Gershwin extravaganza, “Rhapsody in Blue at 100: Concert of Hope”? Surprisingly smoothly, all things considered.
PHOTO 1: Food stalls line the audience area at Great Park Live. PHOTO 2: Food trucks are also available for food options. PHOTO 3: Dinner is served at tables in the front section of seating during Pacific Symphony concerts. Photos courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford
Great sound, pricey food
The July 27 concert, featuring Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris” as well as a piano concerto by Peter Boyer and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story,” would definitely test the acoustical limits and subtleties of the space. Pacific Symphony President John Forsyte said that sound amplification problems encountered in previous concerts had been addressed and all the bumps ironed out.
We arrived at the parking lot early in order to give us time to walk the property (and of course, allow for the possibility of getting lost).
Great Park Live is surrounded by three parking lots. The largest, marked P2 on this map, offers the best proximity to the amphitheater’s entrance. Even so, if you park more than a few rows in, you’re looking at a fairly healthy trek. (I did it twice, since we forgot that only see-through bags are allowed through the no-nonsense security barrier.) The walk to our table, just behind the VIP section near the stage, took us through a busy village of food and drink vendors in kiosks and trucks.
A word of warning: expect inflated park prices for even basic fare such as soft pretzels and popcorn. Ditto the drinks: a large can of Great Park Lager, one of the more economical beer choices, was $9, and an ungenerous pour of J. Lohr chardonnay was $16 (you can buy a bottle of the stuff at Vons for $7.77).
But venue food rip offs are universal, aren’t they? We came for the music – and we weren't disappointed.
I talked to Forsyte during the intermission, and he said a lot of acoustical tweaking had been done before and after the orchestra’s Fourth of July concert. The fine-tuning definitely paid off. From several acoustical vantage points the sound was crisp, clear and well balanced, with none of the phantom echoes or harshness at louder dynamics that can undermine the aural experience at some outdoor venues.
The sound was robust but not overpowering. “We were trying to thread a needle,” Carmichael told me. “We wanted a great sound, but there are a lot of homes close by. (The FivePoint Amphitheatre) had a lot of complaints about sound, and we wanted something that wasn’t going to be a burden on the neighbors. We hired a professional audio engineer to help us through that process.”
From a listener’s standpoint, well done. The jury’s still out on what the neighbors think.
PHOTO 1: A drone photo of the park showing Grand Park Live in the center and Parking Lot 2 in the upper left. PHOTO 2: A drone photo showing the entire seating area at Great Park Live, set up for a Pacific Symphony concert. Photos captured from video provided by Pacific Symphony. PHOTO 3: The seats provided by Pacific Symphony for their Great Park Live concerts. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford
Comfortable? Depends on how prepared you are
The superior acoustics are not quite matched by the visual experience. The audience area, which Forsyte said could hold as many as 3,900 for Pacific Symphony concerts, is flat, not raked, which could make for some obstructions in certain areas (though the sightlines were fine from my table slightly to the left of center stage and about 30 feet from the apron). Keep in mind that the setup I encountered is specifically for Pacific Symphony concerts; it will vary according to the kind of act onstage. For any kind of concert, there seems to be plenty of space for spreading your blanket on the grass, and picnic tables are available.
The setting sun also causes problems. If you’re watching before sundown (as we did for the pre-show solo piano concert), old Sol slowly, slowly sinks to the horizon directly behind the stage, throwing everything on it into silhouette. “We’re working on some curtains to deal with the sunset,” Carmichael said. But he put the best face on the problem. “On the one hand it’s not ideal, but when the sun is setting right behind the band there’s almost a magic to it.” OK, but my advice is to bring your shades.
My biggest complaint concerns the seats themselves: The four wooden folding chairs around our table came with the thinnest membrane of padding. I experienced unpleasant flashbacks during my three-hour sit: enduring endless Sunday church services, my 8-year-old heinie aching from the wooden pews. Please, someone, tell me those are temporary. (My wife, who has an instinctive feel for potential catastrophes, brought her own cushion. I’d advise you to follow suit.)
PHOTOS 1 & 2: The Officers Club, available to premium-level patrons and full of VIP touches, is a comfortable retreat just to the left of the stage. PHOTO 3: In the VIP section near the stage, patrons can enjoy a catered dinner. Photos courtesy of Pacific Symphony/Doug Gifford
We lingered after the concert in a pleasantly furnished area called the Officers Club, which is available only to the symphony’s VIP guests. Nearby we found the VIP restrooms – portable, yes, but with real flush toilets! For the hoi polloi, there’s a long line of Porta Potties, but be warned: They aren’t illuminated, so after dark you’ll have to use your smartphone to, um, properly situate yourself.
Our walk back to the car was almost idyllic, since most of the crowd had already left. The night was cool and clear. (My wife, once again, was prepared: She brought a much-needed blanket, since the warmth of the day quickly dissipated after the sun went down. Luckily for me, it was big enough to share.)
As workers were dismantling the chairs and tables, a couple of grazing rabbits gingerly reclaimed the grassy lawn. Great Park Live is, after all, temporary. Sooner or later, the bunnies will get it back.
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