Tortuga Music Festival 2024 review: No country for old men

One of Jason Aldean’s biggest moments on Sunday night at Tortuga Music Festival 2024 came with his new single, “Let Your Boys Be Country,” an ode to red dirt, rowdy trucks and rural pride that the assembled thousands chanted back to him at full throttle.

While Aldean’s description of “country” is succinct and easy to sing, this weekend’s three-day festival at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park offered more proof that the old definition of “country music” no longer applies.

In their turned-up-to-11 volume and slick visuals, the three headliners — Lainey Wilson on Friday, Hardy on Saturday and Aldean — put on shows that felt like arena-rock concerts. Hardy, especially, seems interested in working at an intersection of country and metal where he stands alone.

After the headliners, probably the other most anticipated set of the weekend came on Sunday with a Main Stage performance by the young, bare-chested and relentlessly likable Bailey Zimmerman, who sometimes seemed like a singer in search of a boy band to lead.

Country music changed in other ways this weekend: Billboard announced on Sunday that Beyoncé became the first Black woman to reach No. 1 on its Top Country Albums chart with “Cowboy Carter.” An unscientific survey of Tortuga-goers found that most were still trying to figure out what to say about the Texas native’s album.

“It’s not a country album,” said J.R. Brennan, who attends Penn State University. Even though Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton perform on it? “I’m not saying it’s not a good album, it’s just not a country album.”

Standing with Brennan, Jenny Ramirez of Coral Springs, was less sure. “Texas Hold ’Em” is “definitely” a country song, Ramirez said. Her favorite songs on the album included “16 Carriages,” “Protector,” “Daughter” and “Bodyguard,” though she wasn’t sure any of them met the definition of country music.

“It’s so great to hear her voice in that sound, with acoustic guitars,” Ramirez said. “She’s got such … a great voice.”

Here are some of the best things we saw and heard at Tortuga Music Festival this weekend.

Hello, Hardy: Saturday’s revelatory headliner, Hardy, came out with a bang, his turbo-charged, trailer-park rock anthem “Sold Out” introducing a set that echoed with influences from Foo Fighters, Green Day, Rob Zombie and Ice Cube. Wearing his trademark nerdy glasses, a Mossy Oak camo hockey jersey and shorts, the Mississippi native made his intentions clear: “We came here to f— you up!” At one point, it looked like he was holding himself back from jumping into the mosh. But eventually Hardy showed why his reputation as a songwriter is being eclipsed by evolving stardom, no matter what kind of genre you apply. Picking up an acoustic guitar, he reminded the crowd of a couple of songs he wrote “for a very good friend of mine,” the Morgan Wallen hits “More Than My Hometown” and “Sand in My Boots.” He’s an interesting storyteller, authentic and funny (he briefly covered Oasis’ “Wonderwall”), and Tortuga should bring him back as soon as possible. (For the record, no, Lainey Wilson did not take the stage for “Wait in the Truck.”)

Blonde on Non Blondes: Lainey Wilson also dashed any questions about being a headliner on the level of Tortuga Music Festival with a Friday night performance delivered with a confidence and audience connection that was lacking when she played a down-the-bill set in 2022. Of course, it helps to have a Grammy-winning album, “Bell Bottom Country,” to draw from. One of the best moments at her show was the sing-along to her cover of 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up?”

All Aldean: Not surprisingly, Aldean’s headline show on Sunday seemed to be the best attended of the weekend. It was professional and polished, with superior sound, lights and camera work. Dressed in a mall cowboy hat, jeans and black Harley-Davidson T-shirt, Aldean worked the crowd like a maestro on hits including “My Kinda Party,” “Hicktown” and “Big Green Tractor.” He touched briefly on the controversy over “Try That in a Small Town” and “people trying to make it something it wasn’t.” (The problem was the video.) Best moment: Aldean saluted Colt Ford, who suffered a serious heart attack on Thursday, with a performance of his hit “Dirt Road Anthem,” cowritten by Ford. Another one: His collab with “Lights Come On” with Bailey Zimmerman.

Elbow room: Live Nation reps say attendance for the 11th annual Tortuga Music Festival was on par with past festivals, at about 25,000 per day. But anecdotally, everyone in the general-admission zone seemed to agree that there was more room to navigate, and lines for restrooms, food and drinks were shorter (sometimes nonexistent). Not a bad thing, right?

A new space: Tortuga tested a new GA+ space this weekend and reviews were positive. It included a separate area with a dedicated bar, air-conditioned restrooms and sofa seating shaded by a stand of trees. The three-day pass was priced between GA and VIP at $510+ (GA passes cost $335+ and VIP passes were $1,549+). It never seemed to host more than a few dozen people at a time. “Just to have a place to sit, it was worth it,” said Maryann Allen, of Chicago.

Getting rowdy: I am convinced the three-tiered Super VIP lookout was closer to the Main Stage than it was before. That venue, sold out again this year, may look familiar to high-roller golf fans: In February, that structure was part of the exclusive Skybox 16 at the famously rowdy 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open, known as “the most exciting hole on the PGA Tour.”

Weather report: The weather was perfect, mid to upper 70s most of the time, even dropping below 70 as the wind picked up with Aldean’s set winding down. The only negative for some came when the wind shifted out of the east on Sunday, making the music inaudible for boaters anchored offshore.

Fashion statements: Skin and bawdy humor were in, as they always are. Surprisingly, there seemed to be fewer overtly political statements being made this year. The trend of wearing the American flag as a cape and allowing it to drag along the sand is either the crusader misjudging his height or misjudging how this appears to a nearby service member.

Rock of ages: Maybe the loudest sing-alongs of the day on Sunday came as DJ Silver warmed up the Aldean crowd with snippets from Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” and The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” Just saying.

He’s BZ: No one has a better time onstage (and off) than Bailey Zimmerman. The 24-year-old singer acknowledged that just three years ago he had no plans to be a singer, let alone a country music star, and repeatedly expressed his appreciation to the crowd for being so “blessed.” It felt authentic and sincere. “Rock and a Hard Place” got one of the biggest audience responses of the weekend, and Zimmerman soon was encouraged to jump down from the stage onto a narrow pathway that runs through the crowd to the sound board, skipping, high-fiving and posing for selfies on the way. Not many Tortuga performers have tried that.

Giving away McBryde: At around 5:30 p.m. Friday, Ashley McBryde appeared out of nowhere at a booth sponsored by Jersey Mike’s Subs where she picked up a guitar and did a short set for about 100 people. A Jersey Mike’s rep said it was a surprise to them, too. People were alerted to the show by old social media: A guy stepped in front of passers-by and used his voice. Highlights included her hit “One Night Standards” and her newfangled version of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.” She signed a few autographs then got ready for her Sunset Stage set about 90 minutes later.

For future reference: Loved Warren Zeiders, especially his cover of “Tennessee Whiskey,” when he was joined by soul singer Teddy Swims. … TLC’s “Waterfalls” was one of the weekend’s great moments. … Turnpike Troubadours offered several reminders why Tortuga needs more banjos and accordions. And no one wore a cowboy hat better all weekend than singer Evan Felker. … Koe Wetzel is a natural showman (“We’re just a bunch of drunks from Texas who like playing music”). … Charles Wesley Godwin closed out his criminally under-attended set on Sunday “the only way for a West Virginia boy” to do it, with John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” You had to be there. … Appearing on the Next From Nashville Stage, Stephen Wilson Jr. is a fine songwriter and a beast on the guitar. Hope he’s back at Tortuga soon.

Don’t forget the turtles:Tortuga Music Festival was created in 2013 by the organization Rock the Ocean, which aims to raise support for ocean conservation and awareness of the damage pollution is doing to sea life and ecology. Interest in this work at Tortuga increased noticeably this weekend, according to people at Rock the Ocean’s Conservation Village, home to more than 100 nonprofit organizations.

“Business was fantastic. We had a great turnout this year and a lot of great engagements,” said Derek Burkholder, director of the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program at Nova Southeastern University, who also works with NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute and the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center.

Burkholder has been at Tortuga each year since 2013, directing teams of turtle monitors that are on the festival site all night, every night. He said festival organizers are “wonderful custodians of the beach.”

“Rock the Ocean and Live Nation and the whole organization here do a lot of work to make sure that everything happening is done the best possible way,” Burkholder said. “They made promises that the beach would be cleaner than when they got here every year, and they absolutely do that.”

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.