I have attended concerts at both the Sun Bowl and at the Sun Dial Rec Centre. One season, a group might play one venue. and the next season the same group might play the other venue. What I don’t understand is why one venue charges for the same act that the other venue provides free of charge. Why?
The Sunday night shows have been free for a very long time. At one point the RCSC set aside a fixed dollar amount budget for productions. There was a committee (entertainment committee) who would review and preview shows. It had been in place for years and the acts they hired tended to stay pretty much consistent year to year; if not the same groups, certainly similar. It was at that point where the greatest generation (big band lovers) and the boomers (rock and roll) were starting to draw even in % of population. Sometime around 2011 or 2012, Carole would remember better than I, the committee was disbanded. The gm hired an entertainment director (member of the management team) to find new sources of talent. A lot of the groups used in past years went away and her budget for the Sun Bowl was increased. Personally i think it was a good move to enhance the quality of the Sun Bowl shows but many on the committee felt slighted the way it was handled. Years after that the idea came along to set up shows at Sun Dial for the winter season (after the holidays). It was akin to the old Sun Bowl Concert Series that DEVCO would run, tickets were $2 each back in the 70's and they had the best of the best entertainment come in from Vegas for the 2pm Sunday show; it was simply a brilliant marketing tool to sell homes. Theresa's budget for the Sun Dial shows allowed her to typically pay more to those performers. As time has gone on, i suspect the shows at Sun Dial help cover the costs of the free concerts at the Sun Bowl. The crossover between talent was a reflection that when a group was popular at the free show at the Sun Bowl (big attendance the crowd loved), Theresa would from time to time use them at the paying shows, sometimes the other way around as well. The pandemic has thrown everything off kilter a bit. The RCSC used to run one or two free Sun Dial shows during the hottest months but didn't this year. Now i expect the shows at the Sun Dial are just helping get people acclimated to the coming indoor season (after the holidays) and excited for the new free shows coming season (within weeks).
