Almost no musician at Big Ears plays just one show. The annual Knoxville, TN festival is known for collaborations and cross-pollination and you’re likely to see many of the acts and supporting players pop up at least a couple times, sometimes in the same night, even when you’re not expecting it. And often the things you didn’t intend to see turn out to the best.
Example: I didn’t have strong feelings about how to start Thursday, the first day of Big Ears 2024, and due to a problem with my wristband I ended up going to see Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus as my first performance of the weekend, because venue Mill & Mine was close the festival’s HQ at Jackson Terminal. Featuring an all-star lineup of Threadgill alumnus, it a skronkfest and not exactly my thing — I only stayed for a couple songs — but it still felt like a very fitting start to Big Ears, which gives equal weight to jazz, modern compositions, folk, pop, dance and noise. A mere 50 minutes later I was at my fourth venue of the night, the historic Tennessee Theatre on downtown Knoxville’s main strip on Gay St, where I decided to go in to check out Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis, the guitarist’s improvisational sextet which I loved (also skronky but made sense to my ears). It was just a joy to watch these super talented improvisers, especially vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. (It was my favorite set of the day and I stayed till the end.) After the second song, I realized that the group’s trombonist (Jacob Garchik) was also part of the Henry Threadgill show. People really get around at Big Ears.
Friday night’s big ticket was Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, who earlier in the day had gotten Best New Music on Pitchfork for her excellent new solo album Bright Future. When I got there, 10 minutes before she was set to start, there were two different lines to get into Knoxville Civic Auditorium and both were around the block. The 2500-capacity theatre was packed with fans, many whom may have bought a day pass just to see her. Unlike her Brooklyn show earlier in the week she played entirely solo, just her and her guitar holding the crowd rapt with a set that mixed songs from Bright Futures, abysskiss, Big Thief numbers and more. The mood and momentum was thrown off a little by a lot of in-between-song tuning but nobody seemed to really mind, and in a day of rushing around between venues and seeing partial sets, it was nice to sink in with an artist’s music.
I followed Adrianne’s set with something about as far away as possible, musically if not actual distance: Pacific Northwest post-hardcore legends Unwound who had Mill & Mine at capacity for their pummelling set that was heavy and heavy on 1996’s Repetition.
Other stuff I saw at Big Ears Night 1: Zsela, who is the daughter of Chocolate Genius (Marc Anthony Thompson), was backed by her producer/collaborator Daniel Aged (who has worked with Frank Ocean, FKA twigs, and Rosalía), and saved the best number, new single “Fire Escape,” for last; cellist Zoë Keating at St. John’s Cathedral, who with her mastery of loop pedals was a one-person string ensemble; Tyondai Braxton hunched over patch-cords, making a wild synthetic maelstrom at The Standard as part of King Britt’s Blacktronica sub-festival; and Secret Chiefs 3, the anything-goes ensemble led by Trey Spruance (Faith No More / Mr Bungle) that went from reggae to raga and beyond, including their rad cover of John Carpenter’s Halloween theme.
Friday is jam-packed and I’m hoping to catch André 3000 (and with Shabaka and Laraaji also here for the fest, who knows what collaborations could happen), Laurie Anderson, Led Zeppelin drummer John Paul Jones, Mollys Tuttle and Lewis, Bitchin Bajas and Carl Craig. But it will still probably be the thing I wasn’t expecting to see that stays with me the longest.
Check out a few more iPhone-shot pics from Big Ears Day 1 as well as Adrianne Lenker and Unwound’s setlists, below.
SETLIST: Adrianne Lenker @ Big Ears 3/21/2024
Abyss Kiss
symbol
cradle
Real House
The Only Place
my angel
not a lot, just forever
Free Treasure
Candleflame
dragon eyes
Words
zombie girl
Vampire Empire
Cactus Practice
SETLIST: Unwound @ Big Ears 3/21/2024
Message Received
Corpse Pose
Unauthorized Autobiography
Honourosis
Hexenzsene
Usual Dosage
Arboretum
Look a Ghost
Scarlette
Murder Movies
Next Exit
Devoid
Mkultra
Sonata for Loudspeakers
Summer Freeze
For Your Entertainment
