The Rolling Stones just wrapped up their Hackney Diamonds tour of the United States and, after some of the biggest stadiums in the country, ended up in Ridgedale, Missouri.
Ridgedale, Missouri?
When the ultra-high-tech Sphere opened in Las Vegas, it was a paradigm-shifting concert hall and quickly became a special must-visit destination for music fans, and I’ve talked about it here on Forbes. com.
Well, there’s an even newer concert hall, which is also worth a special trip, in Missouri’s charming downtown Ozarks. The Thunder Ridge Nature Arena overlooks the 43,000-acre Table Rock Lake, and I had the chance to see the Stones there last month and was impressed. But of course, what’s surprising is the total concept behind Thunder Ridge. It’s also a not-for-profit facility whose profits go to fund conservation, a stark replacement for the recent record profits for which the live concert industry made headlines (and not positive newspapers).
Thunder Ridge is located in Big Cedar Resort, the dream of Johnny Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops, the nation’s largest hunting, fishing, boating, and outdoor gadget store (along with the logo of Bass Pro-owned Cabela’s store). Thanks to its meticulous attention to detail, quality, and exceptional visual and immersive design, Morris has been dubbed “The Walt Disney of Retail” and “The Walt Disney of the Outdoors. “Its retail establishments have entertainment destinations and places to buy groceries. , and there are several states, adding Missouri (sorry, Gateway Arch), where a Bass Pro store is the biggest tourist attraction. Big Cedar has won countless awards, adding the annual name of Number One Resort in the Midwest through Travel Leisure magazine, Number One Family Golf Resorts in North America through Golf Magazine, and its five golf courses (six as of this fall) boast the 3 top-ranked utilities in the state.
I see Morris’s iconic technique more as an early edition of virtual truth without the virtual: everything is real, nature, hand-built construction, and unbridled vision to create amazing scenarios, and he took the same technique with Thunder Ridge.
“All I was looking for was to create the most productive stage in the world, something that would last for generations,” Jeff Wilhoit, Big Cedar’s chief marketing officer, said with the utmost seriousness. To that end, Morris has personally visited the shining examples. of outdoor events and venues across the country, adding Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater, Washington’s The Gorge Amphitheater, and Wyoming’s Cheyenne Frontier Days. It kept what it thought was the most productive of its kind, amazing external décor, but added much more complex and effective infrastructure.
The scene itself has decades of musical history, but the audio and video generation is cutting-edge.
He built the facility so that there would be no other buildings or parts of his approximately 5,000-acre complex on site, hence the so-called “Nature Arena. “He even performed a magic trick and hid the approximately 6,500 parking spaces in wooded areas. spaces just outside the stadium, arranged in such a way that they cannot be seen from inside, but access from the car park to the venue is easy, either via walking paths or via the provided open-air trams. The level is set up so that viewers can see around and through it directly to Table Rock Lake below, and the sun also sets directly for a dramatic evening, each and every night.
There’s an increased country fair atmosphere to the front experience, with food trucks, displays, activities and merchandise booths in front of the main front for early arrivals. There is an impressive carriage gate in front, so visitors are struck through the image of the sand itself and the natural surroundings after their passage. All structures are built of luxurious, oversized stone and wood, incorporating historic barns relocated from across North America, and their architecture is impressive.
The permanent structures are low-rise buildings, with two curved wings on either side of (but not attached to) the arched main door, expanding the outdoor impression. These are located in the most sensitive part of the concert hall and feature luxury suites as well as some giant stone terraces with outdoor luxury boxes and VIP seating. At one end is a 12-story wood, stone and glass tower, and at the other, a giant “party barn” with expansive indoor and outdoor viewing areas. From there it descends to the center of the arena, an enormous gently sloping grass terrace that descends almost to the stage, a vegetal amphitheater that takes advantage of its elevation to offer wonderful perspectives for everyone, regardless of the proximity or distance from the stage. they are. This is a park-like general admission, designed to look like a lawn party, and attendees can bring picnic blankets or stand however they like.
Between the back of the rink and the level is a phalanx of folding chairs set up for the show, seats numbered and assigned to the level, and a soon-to-be-very-desirable open state domain just in front of the level. But given the setup, almost one or both seats in the room feel like they’re right in front of the level, and even with all the VIP rooms full, there’s a maximum of about 20,000 spectators for a very intimate atmosphere. It’s small enough to feel special but big enough to attract the biggest names in the world of entertainment, the best combination. Morris’s focus on very high-quality construction, food and surroundings has been designed in particular for what the world’s biggest artists need to bring out here.
The music and video screens are new and state-of-the-art, rivaling the quality of the country’s most productive primary stadiums, but with fans much closer to the level. It’s just a place to see live music. It does have a history, as Morris is a big fan of history and provenance. He operates a museum at the Big Cedar City hotel that features pieces from his private collection, adding one of only two American “funerary flags” that covered Lincoln’s casket (the other is in the Smithsonian), a lock of hair of George Washington and Geronimo’s rifle. At the iconic Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri, he presents Ernest Hemingway’s sport fishing boat and George W. “Bass Force One”, the presidential fishing boat. Bush. Il is therefore quite general that he bought a level full of musical history.
The other one in the Premium Zone includes the giant Party Barn and other suites and suites. . . . [ ] The seats on the general admission lawn are located on a terrace on the hill.
Formerly located in Irvine Meadows, a popular Southern California outdoor amphitheater that hosted live performances for 35 years until it finally closed last year, the historic level hosted all of music’s biggest names, from Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, and Prince to the top. rock bands like Aerosmith, AC DC, Eagles, Pearl Jam, and just about every big name in country music. Morris bought the historic level and brought it here, where it can be set up for acts of various sizes and even disposed of for sporting events. In addition to a roster of musical stars, the abbreviated 2024 season at Thunder Ridge included an air show, headlined by the U. S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor demonstration team. U. S.
The big differentiator in the design is the food, beverages and bathrooms, all of which have been carved into the hillside and installed beneath the VIP spaces and behind the grass seating. Morris is very aesthetic and does not have the dated look of portable toilets. So inside the hill there are two hundred permanent and strangely high-end toilets, enough that there is rarely a line, even at sold-out shows. “Market”-style food courts on either side, also on the hill, serve upscale stadium fare, adding bison hot dogs, sausages and hamburgers made from bison that are naturally raised at Dogwood Natural Keep, a non-profit organization. profit from the 10,000 acres he protected. Canyon. They’ve installed over 50 AI-powered tables, so you pick up your food and drinks, drop them off, and automatically check it out and bill it to your phone, like Amazon retail outlets in airports and faster than what I have noticed in a public environment. and pass and settle.
The deluxe spaces feature premium food service with access to various carving stations and concession stands, plus an outdoor fried fish smoker and a separate hog station, as well as picnic tables and fire pits scattered throughout the spaces. open with grass. There are many more bars. than you need, so there is one nearby and there is never a line. The Thunder Ridge edition of what would be ballpark seats each includes a YETI cooler, hidden in a traditional wooden chest, that you can pre-stock to your specifications.
Inside one of the suites of the Thunder Ridge Nature Arena, used mainly for corporate functions.
The 3-storey tower houses the 3 stunning suites, each fully glazed and in two grades with a personal elevator. Between this and the giant ‘party barn’ there is a diversity of interior suites (with open facades) and VIP areas, with bars and food throughout. These are mainly for corporate entertainment and are fantastic. But whether you’re on the grass, in a suite, or in a chair in front of the stage, you’ll get the setting overlooking Table Rock Lake with an unobstructed view of great diversity of the Boston Mountains in Arkansas.
There used to be a smaller outdoor stadium, with no buildings, and country music stars, plus Garth Brooks, Hank Williams Jr. , Chris Janson, Dierks Bentley and Tracy Lawrence, played here. There was even a Professional Bull Riders (PBR). team event. But the new Thunder Ridge is designed as a world-class destination and kicks off this year with big names like the Rolling Stones, Luke Bryan, Imagine Drapassns, Pitbull and Chris Stapleton. Thunder Ridge will be closing its doors for the winter. and will go big in 2025, with around 70 exhibits expected. Beyond music, the multi-purpose stadium can host horse shows, Monster Truck races, rodeos, air shows, hot air balloon displays and much more.
“Thunder Ridge is every artist’s dream gig,” said Garth Brooks, the best-selling country musician in history and the only recording artist of any genre to have nine platinum albums. “Give me a position on the planet where you can be ‘away from everything’ and ‘where it is’ at the same time?” There may be places on Earth that are just as beautiful, but there is nothing more beautiful.
Big Cedar Lodge’s concert venues would possibly be even more difficult to unload than the coveted tickets, as the luxury hotel only has about three hundred units, featuring luxurious 4-bedroom homes, lakeside cabins, and hotel rooms. This is where the Rolling Stones stayed and tickets tended to sell out for much of the summer, even without a stadium. But it is worth making plans well in advance, as it is definitely the first option. In addition to the hotel’s many amenities and its very good golf and fishing courses, those who remain in the asset can take free transportation and are connected to the stadium via an internal road. Significantly cutting traffic and facilitating access. But if you can’t stay here, Ridgedale is just 10 miles from Branson, a popular tourist spot with plenty of accommodations, and an hour from Springfield Airport, served by United, Delta, American and other airlines.
The land that Thunder Ridge sits on has been set aside as part of the non-profit Johnny Morris Conservation Foundation, so all proceeds from events and food here will go towards further improving the venue and the conservation. The Foundation’s project is to conserve land and wildlife, and it also operates the 10,000-acre Dogwood Canyon Nature Park just minutes away, as well as the Wonders of Wildlife Museum and the five-time award-winning National Aquarium in Springfield , Missouri. USA Today Best Aquarium Award. Overall, Thunder Ridge is focused on reinvesting in conservation projects in the Ozarks region.
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