BIG EARS 2024: Herbie Hancock, Rhiannon Giddens, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Lenker, John Paul Jones, Brad Mehldau, King Britt's Blaktronica, etc etc

Totally street teaming this as yr designated Knoxville representative. Lineup here: https://bigearsfestival.org/

Also Shabaka Hutchings, Fred Frith, Henry Threadgill, Christian McBride, Unwound, Beth Orton, Roc Marciano, many more. Personally a bit psyched for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, who I last saw about 20 years ago.

Passes on sale Thursday morning 9 am ET for the March 21 to 24th event

Son Rompe Pera on the bill are a fun punk-cumbia & more band

There's a pre-sale for previous attendees and big donors

Killer lineup once again!

Gotta say I didn't have a former member of Led Zep improvising at Big Ears as part of a duo called "Sons of Chipotle" on my 2024 bingo card.

oh shit

This lineup is nuts

I have no idea what JG Thirlwell is doing these days, but intrigued to see.

Now with more flute: https://bigearsfestival.org/big-ears-announces-andre-3000-residency/

nah

Maybe it's due to passport and visa issues, but I felt like Big Ears had more African acts in years past than this year.

Andre just had a residency here, something like four shows over five nights. I am amazed how many people have bought into the BS, but different strokes, etc.

it is a mystery

pretty stoked for the rest of it tho

separately ticketed = no thanks. I already shelled out too much money for my pass.

lol I know, I'm trying to find out if a media pass will get me into one of the shows. Unclear at the moment. It is not a must-see for me by any means, although as a curiosity I'd be happy to check it out.

they're also doing separate ticketing for a La Monte Young + Marian Zazeela pieces. really poor decision imo but I get that they are struggling to contain the size of the festival.

Yeah, I don't know the details, some of that may be in agreement with the artists. But it also no doubt is to limit having hundreds of people standing in line for shows they won't be able to get into. It's tricky to have a single-pass festival with so many different sized venues.

Yeah and the Old City PAC suffers from that especially ime. I guess they think La Monte Young pieces need to be performed in venues the size of Yoko Ono's NYC loft, but I really disagree with that, especially at a festival attended by thousands of La Monte Young fans

I am not there. Have seen a Fred Frith video clip, a Jlin one, a great Third Coast Percussion one, read someone say they liked the Unwound gig they saw and that song wise it was different from the last time they saw them

my wife is there, saw Mary Halverson and Charles Lloyd yesterday. pretty heavy FOMO over here.

I’m there, currently waiting to see Fred Frith and Ikue Mori.

I wanted to see Frith/Mori but geography and conflicts kept me away. I was watching Henry Threadgill’s Zooid then (which was very good, never had the chance to see him/them).

Just got out of Andre doing his flute thing and I enjoyed it way more than I expected. He’s no virtuoso, but he’s a musical dude and an entertaining performer — with a good band, obviously.

Faves so far: Yasmin Williams (w/William Tyler sitting in on a few songs), Claire Rousay, Adrianne Lenker (of course), Nik Bartsch’s Ronin and Unwound. Tonight is a dance party with DJ Heather and Carl Craig, if I have enough gas. Gotta pace myself.

JPJ / Herbie funk breakdown imperative

Sorry I didn’t hear about this until now tbh

lol I’ve managed to see none of those, was torn between Williams and Trevor Dunn’s thing and just followed friends to Dunn. Amazing day so far though, both Son Rompe Pera and Trio Mediaeval were incredible.

I’ve only been able to make it to about half of my planned itinerary so far, thanks to a combination of venues hitting capacity and me being exhausted.

So far I’ve seen:
Charles Lloyd
Fred Frith
Robert AA Lowe
JPJ
Frith & Mori

now waiting for Laurie Anderson to begin

Man, that lineup looks amazing, wish I had been aware of this earlier

The Laurie Anderson show was great, I didn’t know what kind of set it would be, did not really expect to hear “O Superman.” Now Suzi Analogue is killing it at the Blaktronica showcase, trying to keep myself going long enough for at least a little Carl Craig.

both Son Rompe Pera and Trio Mediaeval were incredible.

I saw a warmup show Son Rompe Pera did at a local bar on Wednesday, they were so much fun.

I miss when they would book folks like Keiji Haino and Peter Evans. Sure there are plenty of squitchy scratchity sounds but everything is so muted. It really feels more like they’re trying to keep things respectable this year so they can dig deep into rich old jazz heads’ pocketbooks.

Yah, I would like more of an out/noise presence too. I don’t know all of the factors that go into each year’s roster, a lot of it is circumstantial – who has a new album or project or thing that they are touring or excited about. But as you say, I am sure that old jazz heads are a more reliable funding model than noize dudes.

There was a bunch of experimental stuff at the Pilot Light. The venue isn’t officially part of the festival, but they have bands all day during the festival. I went there a couple times this weekend and was pleasantly surprised.

There was a bunch of experimental stuff at the Pilot Light. The venue isn’t officially part of the festival, but they have bands all day during the festival. I went there a couple times this weekend and was pleasantly surprised.

yeah I regret not popping in there while I had the chance. looks like they don’t have anything booked there today

OK JPJ + Thurston was exactly the shot in the arm I needed

It was funny to see people who waited in line an hour to get into that show turn around and bolt after 5 minutes. Although it had a pretty good crowd that stayed.

The Body/Head show at Big Ears a few years ago was just streams of people leaving