The Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly Universal Amphitheatre) is an indoor amphitheatre located in Los Angeles within Universal City. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats (3,900 in the main level and 2,189 in the mezzanine). It was originally built as an outdoor venue, opening in the summer of 1973 with a production of Jesus Christ Superstar that was extended until cold weather forced the show to close. To the chagrin of many, was remodeled and converted into an indoor theatre in 1982 to improve acoustics.
It is the third-largest mid-sized venue in California, behind Nokia Theatre and the Shrine Auditorium - two other Los Angeles venues. The amphitheatre is best known for its acoustics and its sightlines. The theatre was known as the Universal Amphitheatre from its inception until early 2005, when naming rights were acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The venue regularly hosts concerts by high profile touring artists and major recurring events, such as the MTV Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. On December 6, 2011, it was announced that Gibson Amphitheatre would close and would be demolished to make way for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park area. However, no date has been announced for its closing, and as of September of 2012, the venue is still hosting events.
Famous quotes containing the word gibson:
“Night City was like a deranged experiment in Social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button. Stop hustling and you sank without a trace, but move a little too swiftly and you’d break the fragile surface tension of the black market; either way, you were gone ... though heart or lungs or kidneys might survive in the service of some stranger with New Yen for the clinic tanks.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)