Long Beach’s new waterfront amphitheater is set to open June 6 next to the Queen Mary, launching with Snoop Dogg and a summer run that promoters hope will make the city a bigger stop for touring acts. The F&M Bank Amphitheater of Long Beach will open as a temporary venue, but one that city leaders are selling as a major addition to the region’s live music map.
That is why the opening is drawing attention now. The venue has a maximum capacity of 11,000, roughly twice the size of the Greek Theatre and about two-thirds the size of the Hollywood Bowl, putting it squarely in the range that can attract national amphitheater tours without pushing them into arena territory. Brian Wheat said Tesla had not played a show in Los Angeles or Orange counties since FivePoint Amphitheatre closed, underscoring how a single missing room can leave a hole across a whole touring circuit.
Mayor Rex Richardson began pushing an outdoor performance venue on the waterfront in 2023, and he accelerated the plan after Irvine’s FivePoint Amphitheatre closed in October 2023. City leaders say the project could help offset declining revenue from oil extraction and bring in more tourism, while Richardson has framed it as an investment in Long Beach’s creative future. The temporary amphitheater is expected to last for up to 10 years, long enough to test whether the waterfront can support a sustained concert business before any permanent replacement is built.
That is also where the project gets complicated. It is being promoted as a fresh regional draw, but it is also a stopgap, a bridge to a planned Long Beach Bowl that has not yet been built and is being pitched as the largest waterfront venue on the West Coast. Nick Storch said the region has recently lacked a proper summer shed for many national amphitheater tours, and he described acts that play venues larger than the Greek and smaller than the Hollywood Bowl as crucial to the concert business. Sheds may be great in summer, Wheat said, because outdoor gigs create an atmosphere that bands and fans both want.
For now, the next test is immediate: Snoop Dogg opens the amphitheater on June 6, then Motley Crue, Five Finger Death Punch and Tesla are scheduled for September. If those shows sell, Long Beach will have a working answer to a gap that has lingered since FivePoint shut down. The bigger question is whether the temporary venue becomes a placeholder on the way to the Long Beach Bowl, or the city’s long-term home for big outdoor shows.
