2024 Big Ears Preview

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The Big Ears Festival returns once again March 21 – March 24, 2024, bringing together an impressive diversity of musical artists and bands to Knoxville, TN, that rivals any other festival in the country. That it is presented indoors without any requirement to camp in a pasture or a desert with hundreds of other festival-goers, makes it even more attractive. 

From a personal point of view, Big Ears happens two hours from my home, which adds to its allure. Despite this proximity, I’ve only been able to attend the festival once. I had a ticket in hand for 2020, but a global pandemic which you may have heard about prevented me from seeing a number of oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening level artists. I am still more than a little disappointed. The event was also canceled in 2021. In 2022, I secured a single-day pass and took in performances by 75 Dollar Bill, Sons of Kemet, Animal Collective, Mind Maintenance, Marc Ribot, and more, which lived up to my steep expectations. Family obligations prevented me from attending last year. 2024 is the opportunity to do a full Big Ears immersion and provide a report on these performances here on Recliner Notes. 

The most difficult thing about attending Big Ears is selecting which performance to attend. The most precious resource at the festival is time. The Big Ears app allows you to plot a course for the weekend by liking artists and scheduling performances. Unfortunately, this process results in realizing that it is physically impossible to attend both the Brad Mehldau AND the Joan Shelley performance without utilizing a yet-to-be-invented, Philip K. Dick-style, consciousness-splitting apparatus. 

The days leading up to the festival include considering factors such as seeing performances by artists you know well and those artists you don’t. Listening to samples on Bandcamp and other music platforms only makes decisions on how to spend your time that much harder. On the plus side, Big Ears has expanded the number of performances of some artists, including multiple presentations of André 3000’s New Blue Sun Live. Additionally, the festival continues its commitment to showcasing an array of different collaborations, providing several occasions to see artists such as banjo visionary Rhiannon Giddens, bassist Christian McBride, jazz composer Henry Threadgill, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, composer/improviser Fred Frith, and insurgent guitar player Marc Ribot. 

I’ve created two categories to guide my planning for the festival — Essentials and Possibilities. Essentials are the tentpole acts around whom I will be building my weekend. They are the artists that I do not plan on missing, despite whatever else may be happening. Possibilities include performers who are intriguing and will depend on my mood and, frankly, proximity to where I am at the time of their performance. Because of the quality of Big Ears’ lineup this could be the entire list of artists, but I will only list highlights. You may notice that I am not including some of the biggest artists in the lineup among my Essentials. This is all in the name of maintaining flexibility just in case Big Ears announces a “secret” pop-up performance, or the mood may be wrong. Festival-going is all about adaptability. 

With so many performances to take in, I will need to remember to eat, hydrate, sit down, and talk with the many friends who will also attend the festival. To cover 2024 Big Ears, I will post day-after recaps on Recliner Notes. One programming note: I will not be covering the festival on Thursday. Follow Recliner Notes on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky) for photos, videos, and updates throughout the weekend. 

Essentials

Possibilities

Click here to find all of Recliner Notes’ coverage of 2024 Big Ears Festival.

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