The Observatory

The Observatory is a major venue for indie music and hip-hop in the Orange Country area. It is located in Santa Ana just to the north of the 405 freeway. It was converted from the previous venue, The Galaxy, in 2011.  It has a cool staggered concentric semicircle design around the stage, with some key spots that have nice cold air blowing through the ducts from above, if you can find the right spot. It is in the same building as Constellation Room, which is a much smaller space, so it helps to pay attention to which room one is heading since the tickets are not interchangeable. There is a sister locale in San Diego called The Observatory North. Both venues were acquired by Live Nation in 2019.