Updates on tickets, set times

Tortuga Music Festival 2024 returns to Fort Lauderdale Beach Park on Friday, April 5, its three days of boots-and-bikinis frivolity accompanied by recalibrated ticket prices that work better for some than others.

This year’s lineup is led by headliners Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson and Hardy — solid, if lacking in traditional superstardom — along with country favorites Bailey Zimmerman, Old Dominion, Koe Wetzel and Ashley McBryde. Also on the eclectic bill: rising soul singer Teddy Swims, Boyz II Men, TLC, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Long Beach Dub Allstars and former Poison frontman Bret Michaels.

First, the good news on tickets: One-day, general-admission passes are back for the first time in two years, going for $149 (not including taxes), an 8% increase over the $138 they cost when last offered in 2021. The festival also is selling single-day VIP passes this year, which cost $779.

The single-day GA ticket is a boon for working locals whose schedule or budget rule out all-three-days-or-nothing passes, the cheapest option sold in 2022 and 2023. 

“I’m glad they’re doing them again. I work on Friday night (and have) important things to do on Saturday,” says Stacey Foley, who works in a restaurant in Pompano Beach. She and a friend plan to see Jason Aldean at Tortuga on Sunday. “He’d have been my favorite, anyway, so it’s all good.”

The decision to bring back single-day passes was based on feedback from people with situations like Foley’s, according to Brian O’Connell, president of Live Nation Country Touring and Festivals, which books and organizes Tortuga. 

“You try to be everything to everyone, but one of the things that we are mindful of is different price points for the fans. We get a lot of feedback every year, so we decided to make single-day passes available,” says O’Connell, speaking by phone from Nashville. 

While acknowledging that demand is a factor in Live Nation’s calculations, O’Connell says the return of single-day passes was based strictly on guest feedback. Ticket sales this year have been “very healthy,” and he expects a capacity crowd near 25,000 each day. 

“We’re doing great in three-day overall general passes, we’re doing great in VIP,” O’Connell says. “We had a great year last year, and we are on track to have another great year this year.” 

Another new budget-minded ticket option is being offered this year: The three-day GA+ pass offers some elements of VIP without the full VIP cost. Priced at $510, this pass allows access to a dedicated GA+ lounge area, with air-conditioned restrooms and a full-service bar. There also will be first-come, first-served seating, complimentary canned water and phone-charging stations. 

O’Connell says he has watched the GA+ option succeed at other festivals and decided to test it at Tortuga. 

“It’s the amenities. It just gives the GA ticket-buyer an oasis amid the sea of people,” he says. “We will be monitoring the GA+ to make sure those folks feel like they’ve gotten the value. It’s been working everywhere else, so now we’ve adopted it.”

Elsewhere on the Tortuga ticket menu, the price of a three-day, general-admission pass is up nearly 22% to $335, compared with $275 in 2023. Three-day VIP passes are up about 11% at $1,549, compared with $1,249 in 2023.

Perhaps counterintuitively, in the Super VIP level, which has been a quick and consistent sellout in recent years, the price is up just less than 8%. The three-day Super VIP pass costs $2,369 ($2,199 in 2023) and is the only ticket currently with a waitlist to buy. 

A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales goes to Rock the Ocean, the nonprofit that founded Tortuga Music Festival in 2013 to raise money for ocean and sea life conservation. Visit RockTheOcean.com.

Since its announcement in November, the buzz surrounding the 2024 Tortuga lineup has been varied, with many locals underwhelmed by the headliners. 

A Tortuga headliner in 2019, Jason Aldean knows his way around South Florida, having spent his summers as a boy in Homestead. He and his wife recently bought a beach house on South Hutchinson Island in Martin County.

Aldean’s Highway Desperado Tour has been the most successful of his career, beginning in 2023 and extending into fall 2024. The tour supports the album of the same name, which hit No. 1 on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100 chart. It includes hit singles “Let Your Boys Be Country” and “Try That in a Small Town,” the latter released in 2023 with a video that sparked controversy over racially charged imagery. 

Lainey Wilson is among the most popular female country singers today, especially since the release of her album “Bell Bottom Country,” which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album in February. This performance at Tortuga Music Festival will be Wilson’s third in South Florida in the past five months, following headlining sets at Miami’s Country Bay Music Festival in November and at the New Country 103.1 Rib Roundup in West Palm Beach on March 2. 

The wildcard is the rough-hewn Hardy, who has the look of a future star but as a performer comes to Tortuga with the fewest country-chart hits of any headliner in Tortuga history. 

Hardy is an exceptional songwriter, helping to create hits for Florida Georgia Line (“Simple”), Blake Shelton (“God’s Country”) and Morgan Wallen ( “More Than My Hometown,” “Sand in My Boots”). His transition to performer has produced three platinum-selling country singles: “One Beer” (2020); his collaboration with Lainey Wilson, “Wait in the Truck” (2022); and “Truck Bed” (2023). 

The colorfully tattooed Mississippi native’s instincts also take him into rock music with a hard, metallic edge. Three songs from 2023 album “The Mockingbird & the Crow” hit the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hard Rock chart, including the title track, plus “Jack” and “Sold Out.” He recently released the single “Rockstar,” which went to No. 1 on the Hard Rock chart.

For many Tortuga fans, each festival is defined by whether it includes a performance by Kenny Chesney, who has essentially alternated years on the bill since playing the first Tortuga in 2013. Chesney was a headliner for the 10th anniversary festival in 2023, with Eric Church and Shania Twain.

Two years ago, Tortuga hosted what many fans, especially younger ones, consider its strongest set of headliners ever in Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett. That 2022 festival marked Tortuga’s return to its springtime slot after COVID-19 delays and was an early sellout. 

O’Connell, who has booked Tortuga talent for Live Nation since 2018, says the three names at the top of the bill this year reflect a changing of the guard happening in Nashville. 

“Look, there’s a new era of headliners in Nashville. Michael Hardy and Lainey Wilson, they’re both out doing arena-level headline tours on their own right now. Things change. If we were to go back and book artists that have appeared several times at the festival as the headliner, you know what the feedback would be,” he says. 

Namechecking Old Dominion, Bailey Zimmerman, Ashley McBryde, Turnpike Troubadours, Teddy Swims, Koe Wetzel, Michael Franti, Charles Wesley Godwin, Boyz II Men and TLC, O’Connell says he likes the “depth” of Tortuga 2024. 

“Of course, our culture is very headliner-driven. Do you even read past the first three names?” he says, laughing. “I would put this lineup up against any lineup ever at Tortuga. There are more interesting things to see and hear this year than there ever has been.” 

Here is a look at Tortuga Music Festival 2024, how to get there, what to bring and when your favorite act is going onstage. For more, visit TortugaMusicFestival.com.

WHEN/WHERE

Tortuga Music Festival takes place noon to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday (April 5-7) at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, 1100 Seabreeze Blvd., north of the B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale Beach. The box office and will-call booth are on the sand north of the festival site. The VIP box office is in the lobby of the B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale Beach at 1140 Seabreeze Blvd., on the southern end of the site.

SET TIMES

Performances will take place on three days on three stages: Main Stage (M), Sunset Stage (S) and Next From Nashville Stage (N). 

Friday, April 5: Sadie Bass (2:05 p.m., N); Shwayze (2:10 p.m., S); Tigirlily Gold (2:15 p.m., M); HunterGirl (2:50 p.m., N); Chase Matthew (3:05 p.m., S); Priscilla Block (3:20 p.m., M); The Castellows (3:40 p.m., N); Boyz II Men (4:10 p.m., S); Meg McRee (4:35 p.m., N); Warren Zeiders (4:40 p.m., M); Teddy Swims, 5:30 p.m., S); Anne Wilson (5:35 p.m., N); Turnpike Troubadours (6:15 p.m., M); Ashley McBryde (7:20 p.m., S); Lainey Wilson (8:25 p.m., M)

Saturday, April 6: Annie Bosko (2:05 p.m., N); Black Opry (2:10 p.m., S); Kassi Ashton (2:15 p.m., M); Greylan James (2:50 p.m., N); Cooper Alan (3:05 p.m., S); Jackson Dean (3:20 p.m., M); Peytan Porter (3:40 p.m., N); Long Beach Dub Allstars (4:10 p.m., S); Austin Snell (4:35 p.m., N); Michael Franti & Spearhead (4:40 p.m., M); Russell Dickerson (5:30 p.m., S); Josh Ross (5:35 p.m., N); Old Dominion (6:15 p.m., M); Bret Michaels (7:20 p.m., S); Hardy (8:25 p.m., M), 

Sunday, April 7: Hannah Ellis (2:05 p.m., N); Jon Langston (2:10 p.m., S); Brian Kelley (2:35 p.m., M); Logan Crosby (2:50 p.m., N); Wheeland Brothers (3:05 p.m., S); Kolby Cooper (3:40 p.m., N); TLC (4:10 p.m., S); The Red Clay Strays (4:10 p.m., M); Dylan Gossett (4:35 p.m., N); Charles Wesley Godwin (5:30 p.m., S); Stephen Wilson Jr. (5:35 p.m., N); Bailey Zimmerman (6:05 p.m., M); Koe Wetzel (7:20 p.m., S), Jason Aldean (8:20 p.m., M)

TICKETS

Tortuga Music Festival tickets are on sale at TortugaMusicFestival.com/passes. 

One-day passes: Single-day, general-admission tickets cost $149 (plus taxes); single-day VIP passes cost $779+.

Three-day passes: Three-day GA passes cost $335+. The new three-day GA+ pass (including access to a dedicated lounge area with air-conditioned restrooms and a full-service bar) is $510+. Three-day VIP passes are $1,549+ and Super VIP is $2,369+.

TRANSPORTATION

Parking: There is no dedicated festival parking, so using a ride-share service or the Water Taxi shuttle is encouraged. 

Water Taxi: During Tortuga, Water Taxi service will offer pickups every 20 to 30 minutes from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily from three departure points with nearby parking garages.

• Stop 1: Riverside Hotel and Stranahan House: 335 SE Sixth Ave.
• Stop 4: Hilton Marina and Convention Center, 1881 SE 17th St.
• Stop 7: GALLERYone hotel, 2670 E. Sunrise Blvd., next to The Galleria mall (where parking is free)

Three-day Water Taxi passes, which must be purchased in advance, cost $75. Single-day passes cost $30. For advance tickets and more information, visit WaterTaxi.com/tortuga.

Brightline: The high-speed rail line is offering 25% off on SMART fares for groups of four or more traveling to Fort Lauderdale from other South Florida stops with the code ALLABOARD. Patrons traveling from Orlando will have the discount automatically applied. Visit GoBrightline.com.

BAG RULES

Patrons and bags will be searched on entry. Only clear-plastic reusable bags no larger than (12-by-6-by-12 inches will be permitted (no plastic shopping/grocery bags). Smaller clutch purses and fanny packs 6-by-9 inches or smaller do not have to be clear. CamelBak-style hydration packs that are 1.5 liters or less also do not have to be clear, along with diaper bags and medically necessary bags.

CASH OUT

Tortuga is non-cash. Payments can be made with your wristband, if registered with the Tortuga App or at TortugaMusicFestival.com/info, as well as with credit and debit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay. There will be stations inside the festival where you can transfer cash to a prepaid card. There will be no ATMs on-site.

BRING THIS

Permitted items include sunscreen (nonaerosol), fanny packs, beach towel, snacks (one reusable gallon-sized bag of snacks is allowed), empty reusable water bottles (they can be filled for free at water stations inside), e-cigarettes, lawn chair (low-profile beach chairs, bag chairs, inflatable sofas allowed in the designated chair zone). Strollers (with accompanying child) are allowed. 

DON’T BRING THAT

Items not permitted include alcohol or any beverages, aerosol cans of any kind, glass containers, blankets, zoom-lens camera, iPad or tablet, GoPro camera, drone and other recording devices, coolers, umbrellas, tents, grills, flags/totems. For a complete list, visit TortugaMusicFestival.com/info.

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