Great Park Live sets the stage for a new era in Irvine

The flexible venue trend in Irvine, California, has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor in the transition to permanent facilities for sports and entertainment in Orange County, with its three million residents.

The latest is Great Park Live, a temporary amphitheater in Irvine that has performed well for its first 12 to 15 events since opening June 14, said Mark Entner, founder and CEO of PSQ Productions, an event management firm that operates the venue.

After starting bookings late for the 2024 outdoor season, Great Park Live confirmed Clay Walker (Oct. 25), Brooks Nielson (Oct. 31) and Ludacris (Nov. 22). As the fall tour cycle begins and continues through 2025, Entner expects to book more national acts to complement the festivals and local talent to play at the amphitheater as part of “Irvine Nights,” a series of tribute bands scheduled through Oct. 10.

The amphitheater is located on the north lawn of Great Park, a $1 billion mixed-use development on the site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, a former World War II military base in Irvine. The facility replaces three recreational soccer fields and can seat up to 7,500 people. It will operate for the next three years until a planned permanent amphitheater opens elsewhere in the 1,300-acre Great Park in 2027.

Entner, whose career in the events industry spans 34 years, including 18 years with the Orange County Fair, first became involved with Great Park when he built a temporary soccer facility for Orange County SC, a member of the USL Championship League, after the team relocated from the UC Irvine campus. The team played in the temporary building for one year before moving to a permanent 5,000-seat stadium that opened at Great Park in 2017.

“Back then, there were no sewage or water connections in the Great Park,” Entner recalls. “We had to bring everything from shower trucks to food stands within three weeks before the first game kicked off.”

PSQ Productions now operates the Championship Soccer Stadium for the City of Irvine, part of the first phase of the massive construction project.

Four years ago, the city signed a contract with PSQ Productions to produce live events on its behalf, expanding the relationship that began with the football project.

Last fall, the stage was set for a further expansion of PSQ’s role in the Great Park after local developer FivePoint Communities announced its plan to demolish the FivePoint Amphitheater and build new residential housing in its place.

FivePoint, itself a 12,000-seat temporary venue operated by Live Nation, closed in October. It had essentially replaced the old amphitheater at Irvine Meadows, which operated for 35 years until it closed in 2016 to make way for housing construction.

To fill the gap in live outdoor entertainment that has been a tradition in Irvine for 42 years, the city has put forward a proposal to build a new temporary amphitheater.

PSQ was awarded the project and signed a new contract with the city in February.

IT’S GREAT: An aerial photo shows the setup at Great Park Live, a temporary amphitheater in Irvine, California. (Courtesy of the venue)

The city has allocated $6.6 million for the temporary venue to set up and program the facility over the next three years, with $500,000 of that to cover production costs.

As part of the project to build the temporary facility, Entner worked with consultant Russ Simons, managing partner of Venue Solutions Group, on the design and logistics for a structure spanning seven acres on the north side of the Great Park.

Entner met Simons about 15 years ago at the IAVM Event Management School at the Oglebay National Training Center in West Virginia and the two teamed up again to develop the temporary venue.

“The project has gone from the idea to the establishment and active soccer fields in March to the first event in June,” said Simons. “The end result is impressive. They are doing good work in the community, which inspires me.”

Together with the city, Entner and Simons spent two months in the planning phase before starting construction over a six-week period from May to mid-June.

In its first two months, Great Park Live has primarily hosted community events, such as Taylor Nation, a tribute to global star Taylor Swift, and a performance by the Pacific Symphony in conjunction with the film “Stars Wars.” Both shows sold out with 5,000 attendees, Entner said.

The symphony will call the facility home for the next three years. The stage is 60 feet wide and 40 feet deep, large enough to accommodate the orchestra’s 80 musicians. The entire production facility is designed from a “plug and play” perspective for touring performances, Entner said.

PULLING THE STRINGS: The Pacific Symphony, seen here in concert, will call Great Park Live home for three years. (Courtesy of the venue)

“Two things were important to us – noise and traffic,” he said. “An in-house sound system was a key element to ensure we didn’t impact residents who live near the venue. The city added 2,000 parking spaces to ensure traffic impacts residents as little as possible.”

PSQ Productions makes the food itself, converting old shipping containers into food stalls. Initially, prices were $15 to $20 per person, Entner said.

Premium seating is available. PSQ created the Officers Club, a 1,000-seat space named after the real officers’ club that was part of the military base. The VIP package includes parking and a private entrance. Additionally, seven cabanas are part of the premium mix. They can accommodate up to 10 guests and feature a private bar, restrooms, stocked refrigerator and waiter. The cost is about $60 per person, depending on the event, Entner said.

For the permanent amphitheater project, the city hired Populous for planning and ASM Global as operations consultant to develop an 8,000- to 10,000-seat venue. The site is in the center of Great Park, adjacent to two lakes planned on the property, according to local reports.

The future of the temporary amphitheater after 2027 is still unclear, but the infrastructure is sufficient to allow it to be used as a secondary venue if the city decides to leave it intact, Entner said.

“A lot depends on how much the community likes it,” he said. “It can be a place that supports all the different cultures in Irvine. A key factor in this project is how it fits in with the rest of Great Park, one of the largest community projects in the world. We need to make sure the neighbors are happy so they can come here by bike and walk.”

This story first appeared on VenuesNow.com