Before country music act Zac Brown Band took the stage at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 21, vocalist Zac Brown was informed that his band’s performance would be the last ever for the venue.
“Glad we got to shut it down with you, Irvine,” the band posted on its official Instagram account along with photos and video from the final show. “Honored to have been the last band to play the @fivepointamphitheatre stage last night. Where should we play next time we’re in SoCal?”
The temporary 12,000-capacity space was constructed in 2017 after the 2016 demolition of the long-running, 16,000-capacity Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, which was located on the opposite side of the 5 Freeway.
Brown was just as shocked as the fans were to learn this news. And Tom See, president of Venue Nation, who overseas 150 venues including amphitheaters, theaters and clubs at Southern California concert production company Live Nation, said he was pretty surprised, too.
“I thought we had a 2024 season at FivePoint Amphitheatre and that came to a screeching halt,” See said during a recent video call.
Despite the ongoing back-and-forth between Live Nation and the city of Irvine — which have worked together for more than four decades to bring live music to the area until the city abruptly ended its partnership with the company and scrapped proposed plans for a permanent amphitheater inside the Irvine Great Park back in July — See said he was confident they’d be able to continue on since there certainly wouldn’t be a permanent venue constructed in less than a year. However, because of the ongoing FivePoint residential development, there’d be no way to continue producing shows in the current space.
“It was one of those bittersweet weekends,” See said of the final two shows with Zac Brown Band, while also noting that the group later posted the song it recorded live at Irvine Meadows, a cover of “The Way You Look Tonight,” with more kind…
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