11 moments that made Big Ears 2024 Knoxville's best music festival yet
An exciting and assorted blend of sights and sounds from all over the world came to Knoxville for four powerful days of musical exploration known as the annual Big Ears Festival, held March 21-24 across more than a dozen downtown venues.
It's always one of the most exciting times for downtown, as worldwide attendees make Knoxville their home for a weekend ? eating local food, buying local gifts and experiencing what makes the Scruffy City so special.
But music ? and actively listening to performers ? is what it's all about, from the rising experimental stars carving their way into an always evolving industry to living legends etched in history for being among the masters of their craft.
We had a front row spot throughout the weekend for all the performances that make Big Ears one of the most daring and beloved festivals in the world, by both artists and attendees.
Whether you went and are already waiting for next year or you're still trying to understand exactly what Big Ears is all about, we have you covered with the photos and moments you may have missed.
KEEP SCROLLING THROUGH PHOTOS AND READ THEIR CAPTIONS FOR THE FULL STORY
It's not by coincidence ? and certainly not by a lack of planning ? to see Big Ears alumni return to the four-day festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. Unlike most popular music festivals, repeat visits are not often frowned upon by attendees. That's because artists who are constantly refining their craft and pushing boundaries ? an unspoken prerequisite for being invited in the first place ? always have new experiences to offer fans. That includes Rhiannon Giddens, who took the Tennessee Theatre stage March 22 to mark the fourth year of her name being featured on a Big Ears lineup. As the festival has grown in recent years and added more programming, Giddens also took part in one of the most notable Big Ears events outside of the festival weekend in 2023 when World's Fair Park hosted "Our Common Nature: An Appalachian Celebration with Yo-Yo Ma & Friends." The addition of this event illustrated just how much Big Ears grew in 2023, and some exciting additions to the 2024 weekend helped illustrate why the festival is viewed by critics as one of the most adventurous in the United States.
As always, the festival could not kick off without a warm welcome from its founder, Ashley Capps, at the Knoxville Museum of Art on March 21. Throughout the weekend, the museum played host to free performances anyone in the community could experience without a festival pass. While a festival of Big Ears' magnitude and global significance might seem out of place in Knoxville, Capps explained at the kickoff why his hometown is the perfect fit. "Over the years I came to realize that I love the fact that we do it in Knoxville, and I love the fact that we do it in the South," he said. "The southern United States is such a cultural melting pot of what's come to be popular music throughout the world." Capps took time to mention Knoxville natives who have contributed to the South's artistic and cultural legacy, including Beauford Delaney and Nikki Giovanni, before inviting Big Ears performer Joe Henry to the stage for opening remarks. Henry praised the festival for its willingness to let artists experiment with new and unproven works, and for being one of the only major festivals where a majority of artists are booked through a personal invite from the founder.
Molly Lewis took the Jackson Terminal stage March 22 with an instrument almost anyone can play but few can master: the natural whistle of the human lips. Her performance illustrated just how diverse and eclectic Big Ears' musical offerings can be. So much so that Lewis suggested she might not be the only whistler on the festival's lineup, a joke that very well could have been true. Throughout the weekend, attendees witnessed stunning soundscapes created by layered voices, danceable sets that sampled video game sounds, and out-of-this-world tones made by altering and filtering sounds through synthesizers. Lewis and her work featured in the 2023 "Barbie" movie was not even among the festivals most "weird" offerings ? a word that doesn't always carry a negative connotation, especially at Big Ears.
While Big Ears' yearly lineups feature artists who might be unfamiliar to the average person on Gay Street during an average Knoxville weekend, some names need no introduction. That includes John Paul Jones, who first made a name for himself as the bass player for Led Zeppelin before expanding his artistic horizons. Pictured here during a solo set at the Tennessee Theatre on March 22, Jones ? like many artists on the lineup ? did not hit the stage and then hit the road. Big Ears invites collaboration, which naturally aligned with his Sons of Chipotle project alongside acclaimed cellist Anssi Karttunen. But beyond that, Jones took the stage again Sunday during a semi-impromptu performance with Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore that found its way into the festival schedule at the performers' request. For fans sometimes faced with schedule conflicts, being able to catch artists multiple times throughout the weekend is a treat. But with so many performers pulled in so many artistic directions, there's always the chance you'll stumble upon artists in a unique form that shatters expectations, whether it's Will Miller of indie rock band Whitney performing a jazz set as Resavoir or André 3000 playing the flute (more on that in a bit).
There are many reasons people come to Big Ears from all over the world, but there's a theme underlying them all: inspiration. Many attendees are artists themselves, enamored with the fact so much musical talent ends up in the same unsuspecting place on the same spring weekend. Watching people push boundaries on stage is inspiring in itself, but workshops and conversations help attendees realize and overcome their own artistic limits. In some cases, artists outright talked about what inspired them while performing. That includes Charlie Dark MBE, holding up a Julien Babinga record being worked into the mix during his all-vinyl, crate-digging DJ set. Charlie Dark also spun a record by Herbie Hancock, a jazz legend and one of the most notable performers on the 2024 lineup. Charlie Dark even asked the audience if they could help him get the album signed during the weekend. At Big Ears, artists are fans too ? both of their peers and of the festival, as performer after performer took time to praise the event during their sets.
The praise and visits from all over the world helps Big Ears put Knoxville on the map like no other event in town. Downtown businesses recognize the impact Big Ears can have and pulled out all the stops to make visitors feel welcome. A sign for Big Ears, pictured here, was installed at the Embassy Suites hotel on Gay Street, while the Ham'N Goodys location inside the hotel brought its sandwiches, cookies and drinks to the sidewalk to offer quick grab-and-go meals for festival attendees needing a snack between sets. Some restaurants stayed open past normal hours and offered late-night menus, while some local event organizers picked Big Ears weekend to throw parties outside festival hours to attract attendees.
One of the most notable things that sets Big Ears apart is the venues, both their quality and their proximity to each other. Hatis Noit, who said she previously experienced Big Ears as a fan, performed March 23 inside St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, one of two downtown churches that served as official festival venues. The cathedral is practically in downtown Knoxville's theater district, where you can find the Tennessee and Bijou theaters, the latter of which is just a 10-minute walk from the largest and one of the newest festival venues, the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. Granted, the auditorium feels like a hike away from the Old City and north downtown Knoxville, where most of the remaining venues can be found. But a free trolley service for attendees makes getting around easy. This year, Big Ears Festival added Marble City Market neighbor Regas Square Events as a venue, which added a new layer to the festival's programming with top-notch lighting and large screens that allowed attendees to look closely at performers' techniques without leaving their seat.
Knoxville didn't just host Big Ears; the festival hosted a handful of Knoxville performers, including beloved local favorite R.B. Morris. Morris was Knoxville's first poet laureate and has been called by Lucinda Williams "the greatest unknown songwriter in the country," according to the festival program. Prior to this set at Jackson Terminal, Morris was invited to share poetry at Regas Square Events alongside Knoxville's other poet laureates: Rhea "Sunshine" Carmon, Black Atticus and Marilyn Kallet. Knoxville also was represented during the festival by teenage mandolin prodigy Wyatt Ellis and Senryu, an art-rock collective whose fans reminisced during their set at The Standard of the times the band used to play at Old City Java.
Another big change for Big Ears 2024: separately ticketed events, the most notable of which was André 3000's four-day residency at multiple venues across town. In the photo, Amanda Kirby scans a ticket for the March 21 performance at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, which was different than every other André 3000 performance by nature of his flute project's improvisation. One constant: No photography was allowed, though there was never a reason to take out your phone in the first place. From start to finish, audience members were mesmerized by the former Outkast rapper's ability to capture the energy of the room and present it through raw, powerful sound alongside his on-stage and recording collaborators from "New Blue Sun." Between animalistic shouts and enchanting lights that painted church walls in rainbows of color, fans were treated to intimate evenings and afternoons with André 3000 that included stories of how his fascination for the flute came to be.
Big Ears Festival is about more than just music. It's about culture, experiences and, in the case of Steve Keene, visual art that has led to him being described as the "punk Picasso." Keene is known for creating more than 300,000 pieces of art during his 30+ year career using a mass production technique that allowed his artwork to be sold for just $30 during Big Ears. The public was invited to watch Keene as he painted live throughout the weekend, just as he does nearly every day in New York, and to purchase the work he was creating. Some of his most famous pieces, including a cover design for the influential Pavement album "Wowee Zowee," also were on display.
Every performance feels more intimate with the receptive and respectful audience Big Ears typically attracts ? an audience made up of people who, themselves, have "big ears," a slang term in the music industry Capps previously said "describes being an especially acute and perceptive listener." The series of "Blacktronika" performances curated by King Britt, pictured here at The Mill & Mine, were especially intimate as audiences were asked to pile in closely around the turntables and DJing equipment set up on the floor (as opposed to the stage). While many Big Ears performances demanded stillness and attentiveness, others gave people the freedom to dance. Because at Big Ears, whatever your soul requires, there's music to make you feel or forget, to dance or dissect, to enjoy ... or, perhaps, not. Either way, it's OK. As long as you remember to stop and listen.
Ryan Wilusz is a downtown growth and development reporter. Phone 865-317-5138. Email [email protected]. Instagram @knoxscruff.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Big Ears 2024: Photos of the Knoxville music festival's best moments
