BIG EARS has done it again. 
The mostly-annual “I’ve completely run out of things to call this” festival goes from bold to boozhee, while maintaining brilliance throughout with its 2016 lineup.
The producers of the festival (Knoxville’s AC Entertainment) have maintained loyalty to lineups past, but they’ve included a few more recognizable names on the poster to grab attention from a wider swath of music appreciator with the likes of Andrew Bird, Yo La Tenga, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Shabazz Palaces.
The reason why I enjoy BIG EARS so much is because I always walk away more seasoned in my musical journey. It’s as if I earn a new degree in music theory with each year I attend. The way I see it, I’ll be achieving my master’s this year…but I still have a long way to go.
Topping the bill is Composer-in-Residence John Luther Adams, who I am completely unfamiliar with but will certainly discover more about in the coming months. See, that didn’t take long. Here I am learning again.
According to an article from Rolling Stone, talks are underway between AC Entertainment’s namesake and president Ashley Capps and Adams to perform “Inuksuit” at Ijams Nature Center…more specifically, Meads Quarry. How BIG EARS would that be?!?
The next couple of names on the bill are familiar to those who have attended this “art-seeker’s boutique gathering” in the past. Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson are each BIG EARS alumni, as are Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon, Bryce Dessner and perhaps my most anticipated of the group, Marc Ribot.
Two events stick out immediately to those inspired by the rare: Anderson and Glass will display a collaboration for the first time on American soil when they get together on Saturday night to close out the festival. Another American first will occur when Tony Conrad and Faust join forces for Outside the Dream Syndicate, a meditative piece from 1973. Like many things at BIG EARS, it will probably be the last chance fans will get to see this collabo. Anywhere. Ever.
BIG EARS boasts true “once in a lifetime” performances, but it is a challenging festival to most in East Tennessee and beyond, myself included. I mean, I grew up in Strawberry Plains, and now people I trust are telling me to listen to a Japanese dronist inspired by Antonin Artaud?!?!? WHAT?!?!
I really have to do my homework, but it always ends up being worth it. I would have never experienced The Ex, the Dutch past participle-punk band that caught me off guard in 2010, had it not been for this strange little festival in my hometown. The same can be said with A Winged Victory for the Sullen, who had me glued to the wall of the Knoxville Museum of Art just last year. As the band finished its last sound, I opened my eyes for the first time in probably 15 minutes and found my legs slightly asleep as I tried to unwrap them and stand up. It’s the longest amount of time I’ve sat Indian style since I was probably 13. As I looked around I noticed a dude who had fallen asleep on his longboard, only to be awoken by the applause. He too seemed to evaporate into the pleasantness of the music, dripping with “dudeness” all the while. Weird, great stuff across the board, really.
It’s not all pleasant with this festival, though. Ben Frost and Swans went bananas in the Bijou in 2015 with two of the loudest performances I’ve ever seen anywhere, much less the friendly confines of Knoxville’s red ribbon theatre. Each of these shows were excellent, even though they couldn’t have been further apart from the shows I had just left.
And then some of the shows just fly right past me, but I’ve grown to understand that I’m OK with that. With a festival that takes as many chances as this one, in a sleepy little river town in the hills of the Smoky Mountains, there are bound to be some things that music listeners of any degree just can’t quite reach, or vice versa. But you don’t have to force anything with BIG EARS. I genuinely enjoy enough of the arrangements, no matter how challenging, that I don’t have to fake liking the stuff that I don’t like.
There are a couple of noticeable differences in 2016. First is the absence of the Knoxville Museum of Art as a performance venue. Another is the addition of separately purchasable assigned tickets for a few of the bigger shows. There will also be a new venue in play. A thick, mysterious cloud lays over the skies in Knoxville as to what AND WHERE this venue could be. Wide-eyed thirty-somethings can be found screaming their guesses of the unknown musical enclosure with their hand’s flailing above their heads as they run down Gay Street and make the turn onto Summit Hill. I’m not sure what the new venue will be like, but I’m willing to bet it will be divine.
Now it’s time to clock in and see who I’ll be writing about in next year’s preview. I have a feeling it will be someone who I know nothing about now and for that, I thank you, BIG EARS.
Here is our coverage of the 2015 BIG EARS festival. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T READ IT!
