The Rolling Stones wrapped up their 2024 Hackney Diamonds U.S. tour on Sunday, July 21, at the Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in the remote Ridgedale, Mo. amphitheater just outside Branson.

Seeing The Rolling Stones, considered by many to be the greatest rock & roll band ever, in the middle of nowhere in southern Missouri, just a few miles north of my home state of Arkansas, is something I’d never thought I’d experience.

The venue opened in 2022 and is centered in the Ozark Mountains, with views of Table Rock Lake in the middle of a 1,200-acre nature preserve. It was one of the dreams of Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris, who, adding The Rolling Stones to his little piece of paradise, proved that maybe some people can always get what they want.  

Thunder Ridge Nature Arena reportedly seats about 18,000, but with its large grassy areas can accommodate as many as 80,000 people for shows.

The Rolling Stones opened up their set at 9:45 p.m. Sunday with “Start Me Up,” of course, the No. 2 hit from their 1981 album Tattoo You, which has probably led off nearly every show the band has done since it was released. It’s a quintessential rock show opener.

The Stones mixed hits, new songs, and some deep cuts into their two-hour set, which also saw many hits fail to make the cut, but that’s always going to happen when you have a 60-year-old band with the number of massive hits as this one.

Throughout the night, the Stones featured four songs off their latest album, Hackney Diamonds, which is their prerogative. Still, I found myself having that “play the hits” mentality that so many concertgoers seem to have, which I know firsthand can annoy folks who genuinely want to hear the latest from artists. These are essentially “bathroom songs,” the songs folks choose to head to the venue’s restrooms during, which I must admit I did during “Whole Wide World” and “Mess It Up,” played back-to-back from the new album.

There were plenty of hits, however, during the 20-song set that lasted close to two hours, including some favorites of mine like “Get Off of My Cloud,” from their early years, and “Tumbling Dice,” off 1972’s Exile on Main St., when they were the biggest group in the world.

The Rolling Stones album that saw the most songs played during the show was 1969’s Let It Bleed, which included the title track as the fan-voted song of the night. Before each stop on their Hackney Diamonds Tour, the band would place four songs on its website for the fans to vote on, and “Let It Bleed” was the winner for the Missouri stop, despite my hope that “Dead Flowers,” my selection, would win out.

Sticky Fingers, which featured “Dead Flowers,” is probably my favorite Stones album. Surprisingly, not a single song from it was performed on Sunday night, despite hits like “Wild Horses” and “Brown Sugar,” which the band likely doesn’t play due to obvious content-related reasons.

Speaking of content-related reasons, when the band performed 1968’s “Sympathy for the Devil,” one of the show’s highlights, vocalist Mick Jagger omitted the line, “I shouted out who killed the Kennedys,” which has been the case since one of the candidates for President of the United States was recently involved in an assassination attempt.

Among my other favorite performances of the evening were “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Honky Tonk Women” and “Gimme Shelter,” which featured amazing vocals from backup vocalist Chanel Haynes, whose previous career was as a Tina Turner impersonator, and I can certainly see why.
My favorite performance of the evening was definitely “Paint It Black,” the band’s No. 1 hit from 1966, which has always been my favorite song of theirs.

About midway through the show, Jagger took a much-needed break and let guitarist Keith Richards, one of the most legendary figures in rock history, take the forefront to perform a few of the songs he did lead vocals on over the years: “You Got the Silver,” “Little T&A” and “Before They Make Me Run.”

When it comes to seeing The Stones live in concert, it’s more about just being there and living in the moment and seeing legends kick ass in their early ‘80s. It’s seeing Jagger strut down the extended center stage like a Prima donna – it’s wild he can still do it at nearly 81 and still belt out the songs. It’s seeing the dual guitar legends of Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood hit their classic licks that are among the most legendary in the history of rock music, like the opening riffs of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” And I still can’t get over this happening in the middle of a forest in the Ozarks.

The Rolling Stones finished off their terrific set with a little bit of new and a little bit of old, beginning with “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” off Hackney Diamonds, before ending with the song that kick-started their ascent to rock music icons “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Seeing ‘Satisfaction’ live is going to be one of those “I can’t believe I saw that” moments when I get older, like having previously seen Paul McCartney perform “Yesterday” or all the times I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen do “Born to Run” in person.

Blues-rocker Samantha Fish opened the show on Sunday night and put on a guitar hero clinic for the audience. Due to epically long guitar solos and jam sessions with her talented band, she probably only performed four or five songs during the set, including outstanding covers of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins/Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “I Put a Spell on You” and MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams,” but it was a pleasure to watch. Opening for The Stones was a bucket list moment for her. She even said it was bigger than being nominated for her first Grammy Award earlier this year.

Despite the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of seeing The Rolling Stones on Sunday, it wasn’t without its headaches. Usually, I wouldn’t put this kind of stuff in a concert review, but I must warn any future Thunder Ridge Nature Arena attendees. If you want to attend a concert at this venue, as beautiful as it is, you had better be prepared for a parking nightmare. The venue being in the middle of nowhere means the parking situation can be a nightmare. It took us two hours, the same length as The Stones’ set, to leave the parking lot once we trekked back to our cars (they do have a tram service if you don’t feel you can walk from the lots to the venue). I’ve never been to a concert venue with a parking situation as atrocious as this one. Morris should throw some of his billions of dollars into correcting this issue because I can see it being a reason for a lack of return customers to his venue.   

by Tyler Glover

There were 14 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first half of 2024. Here are the five best of those No. 1 hits:
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5. “Yes, And?” - by Ariane Grande
When first hearing the beginning of this song with its 45-second intro, I was immediately taken back to the 1980s. The extended intro is so catchy that by the time Ariana Grande starts singing, you might feel as if you wanted the intro to continue a little longer. “Yes, And?” is a song that feels very similar to “Thank You, Next” in the best ways. Ariana Grande is shrugging off the haters, saying yes, this is my life and what I’m doing, and ... why is that your concern? Some people did not really like this song because of the fact that Grande is with actor Ethan Slater, who was married and a new father very shortly before their romance began. To be honest, though, music is subjective, and I do not think of this when listening to the song. I think of my life and how I want to brush off the haters in my own life. This song is such a bop and one of the best of 2024 by far.

4. "Please Please Please" by Sabrina Carpenter 
Sabrina Carpenter is quickly becoming one of the hottest singers in the music industry. She has been putting out albums for years, but after touring with Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour, Carpenter blasted into the public’s consciousness with her massive single, “Espresso.” “Espresso” could quite easily be THE song of the summer. However, Carpenter followed up the success of “Espresso” with this Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song, “Please Please Please.” “Please, Please, Please” highlights those moments when we are with someone who has the potential to embarrass us. You go out into public, and you want people to like you, you want people to root for you, and you want people to think you are with someone perfect for you. However, sometimes, your significant other can just not help themselves. The lyric resonates when Carpenter sings, “Please, please, please don’t prove them right.” The public may think these things about you, but don’t play right into their hands; show them they are right about you. Carpenter is an artist that will be one to watch in the coming years. 

3. “Fortnight” - by Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 
“Fortnight,” the lead single on Taylor Swift’s massively successful eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, talks about how sometimes, we are affected in life-changing ways by a romance, even a very short-lived affair. The lyric that stays with me from this song is “I love you. It’s ruining my life.” How many of us can say that being unable to get over someone has caused us severe anguish? I mean, it can be to the point of not feeling like you can go on with your life. You were supposed to be with that person, but you won’t be. There is nothing you can do about it, but you know that loving them is what is causing you so much torment. Swift has a way of writing lyrics like no other. In my opinion, she is the ARTIST and SONGWRITER of our generation. No one can tell a story like her, making this easily one of the best songs of 2024 so far.

2. "Texas Hold 'Em" by Beyonce 
Beyonce’s commercially and critically successful album, COWBOY CARTER, is the frontrunner for the Grammy for Album of the Year, in my opinion. I also feel like the Record of the Year Grammy should go to the album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The production, the vocals, the lyrics, and the catchiness of this single have been unparalleled this year so far. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is an EVENT song. It is the kind of song you hear and feel like you should be at a stadium dancing to it. The song uses the popular game of Texas Hold ‘Em as a metaphor for a guy who “won’t lay his cards down.” She wants him to get on the dance floor with her and be himself. When we are dating or at the beginning of a relationship, it is natural to have our guard up because of past trauma, but Beyonce encourages him to put his cards down and be himself. She is safe. She will not break his heart. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is such a bop, and the minute it comes on, there is no turning the radio station because it is time for a “real life hoedown!” 

1. “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” by Ariana Grande 
The second single off of Ariana Grande’s blockbuster eternal sunshine album is not only the best Billboard Hot 100 number 1 song of the year, but also the best song of the year, in general. This song brilliantly captures that complex situation where you are trying to navigate a relationship with someone after a break-up. You want to stay friends with that person, especially if you are completely in love with them, but at some point, you realize that you love them so much and that love cannot be extinguished. When you are entering that new relationship with them, you cannot love them the way you want to, and if you are an all-in-or-nothing person, you have to make that sad decision to end all communication with them. Grande’s song captures this complexity in a way that no other song has. The lyrics that truly gut you are: “I don’t wanna tiptoe, but I don’t want to hide/But I don’t want to feed this monstrous fire/Just want to let this story die.” 

“Bonneville Salt Flats” by Luba Dvorak with Ryan Bingham
Luba Dvorak, born in Czechoslovakia, raised in Canada and now calling Houston home, has come out with his finest Springsteen-esque song about needing to feel the speed in “Bonneville Salt Flats,” off his latest album Dumpster Fire, featuring Texas country star Ryan Bingham on backing vocals and a terrific harmonica performance. It’s one of the best story songs of the year thus far. 

“Damn My Love” by John Craigie feat. TK & the Holy Know-Nothings
I’m the kind of music lover who often has to hear a song a few times before truly knowing how I feel about it – to separate it from average to something a bit better (I can usually pinpoint why I don’t like a song on first listen). But I loved “Damn My Love” by John Craigie featuring TK & the Holy Know-Nothings from the first listen. It has this infectious, bouncy melody throughout. Some of the lyrics are an absolute chef’s kiss that makes me jealous of Craigie’s songwriting like: “pink trees raining such a beautiful mess/walking in on nature like she’s still getting dressed” and “I was over-dressed and under tattooed/cowboy hats and neck tats all around the room.” I’d bottle this song up and wear it if I could. 

“I Lie” by Zach Top
Zach Top’s sophomore album Cold Beer & Country Music has shot him to the forefront of the nonmainstream country music world. Honestly, with upcoming opening slots on Lainey Wilson’s tour, he might even trickle into the mainstream, with his throwback sound that hearkens back to the best of the neo-traditionalists of the early ‘90s. There’s a lot to love on the album but the one I’ve been digging most thus far is “I Never Lie,” co-written with Carson Chamberlain and Tim Nichols, about the futility of trying to cope with heartbreak. It reminds me of something Tracy Lawrence or Mark Chesnutt would’ve knocked out of the park 30 years ago. 

“Right Back to It” by Waxahatchee feat. MJ Lenderman
Waxahatchee has often been considered more of an indie or indie-folk artist but the latest release Tigers Blood certainly has an alt-country/Americana sound to it, especially the album’s lead single “Right Back to It.” The song sees Katie Crutchfield dueting with MJ Lenderman, who was called in to play guitar on the album, and the harmonization between the two is incredible. Crutchfield told NME that she wanted to write love songs that are “gritty and unromantic” but find a “newness or an intimacy” with the same person. She accomplished it brilliantly here. 

“Same Water” by The Secret Sisters
The Secret Sisters – Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle – have always had brilliant harmonies. That’s one of the best aspects of their music. On “Same Water,” off Mind, Man, Medicine, sees that beautiful harmonizing on a serious song about dealing with depression and extending an empathetic hand to others dealing with the same problems. “We’re all drowning in the same water as you” is a beautiful line about struggling through these moments and this world together. 

“Sober Thing” by Cody Jinks
There are a handful of selections off Cody Jinks’ latest album Change the Game that could’ve made this list but the one I’ve probably listened to the most thus far is “Sober Thing.” The lead-off track on the album paints a picture of a man fighting, and potentially losing, a battle against alcoholism. It’s a classic country music theme and Jinks’ baritone fits the song perfectly.

“Solitary Road” by Charley Crockett
​Honestly, I could’ve placed any number of songs from Charley Crockett’s excellent $10 Cowboy on this list but the one I’m going with today is “Solitary Road,” which opens with a fantastic guitar that follows along for its entirety. Written by Crockett and Billy Horton, it comes off almost as a country version of the Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix classic “All Along the Watchtower” in tone and theme telling a tale that feels almost mythical and apocalyptic. 

“Watch Me Gone” by Mark Knopfler 
Mark Knopfler has had an interesting career going from guitar hero and frontman of one of the biggest rock bands of the late ‘70s through the mid-‘80s in Dire Straits, to premier Americana singer-songwriter as a solo artist. His return on One Deep River, his first album in six years, sees him having not lost a step. The breakup tune “Watch Me Gone,” which sees Knopfler in his famous whispery growl, is my favorite off the album – even if the chorus of female voices on backing vocals annoys me. 

“White Lies, White Jesus and You” by Katie Pruitt
Katie Pruitt had one of my favorite songs of 2020 “Loving Her,” a beautiful song about same-sex love. Now, she’s released “White Lies, White Jesus and You,” off her latest album Mantras, a devastating look at people failing to respect and love others because of their sexual identity or preferences and the hypocrisy of using religion. The line: “speaking of some things I’ve put behind me: white lies, white Jesus and you” might be the best I’ve heard all year. 

“Yearnin’ For You” by 49 Winchester
49 Winchester’s song “Russell County Line” and album Fortune Favors the Bold were among my favorite country music songs and albums of 2022 so the band’s upcoming album Leavin’ This Holler, debuting August 2, is one of my most anticipated of the year. The album’s first single, “Yearnin’ For You,” which was released in early April, is a roaring testament to longing to be home with the one you love while living the life of a touring musician. It’s essentially a more up-tempo, raucous take on “Russell County Line.”