Is there shade at RBC Amphitheatre?

RBC Amphitheatre: reading the sun for a Toronto lawn show

RBC Amphitheatre lands on the sunnier side of this group, so the seat you choose does real work. Our model puts a typical 7 PM show in Toronto at about 65 percent shade overall, comfortable if you sit under cover, brighter if you take the open lawn.

Covered seats hold, the lawn opens up

The shade clusters under the roof. Pit 1 and pavilion sections 101, 102, 201, 202 and 203 all read around 81 percent shaded across the event. Those are the seats to target when the sun is still up.

The lawn is the open bet. Lawn 5, 6, 7 and 8 all sit near 50 percent shade, half sun, half shade across the show. It is roomy and cheaper, and the trade is a plain view of the western sky.

A late sunset means a bright opening

Toronto keeps a long summer evening: in high summer the sun doesn't set until about 8:56 PM. A 7 PM show therefore starts well before dusk, with the sun low, roughly 18 degrees up and bearing west-northwest. That low angle sends glare across the open seating, which is why the from-6 PM shade figure, near 41 percent, comes in under the full-event average.

The evening fixes it on its own. As the sun sinks toward the horizon it slides off the seats, and once it sets the whole amphitheater is shaded. A later start, or simply the back half of a show, is the easy stretch, and sunglasses cover the early western light on the lawn.

To see where the shadow line falls for your date and section, open the interactive shade map.