Yr jazz, yr drones, yr rock (indie AND post), yr this and that and the other: BIG EARS 2025

Your friendly Knoxville street teamer here with the just unveiled lineup:

https://bigearsfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BE25-SM-lineup-vertical-v8-3.jpg

Things I'm most personally jazzed about: Dawn Richard with Spencer Zahn, Mabe Fratti, Maruja, Zakier Hussain, Jessica Pratt, Landum, Cassandra Jenkins, Jeff Parker/Tortoise, Asha Puthli (!), Still House Plants, William Basinski, and whatever YLT is getting up to with the Arkestra.

oops misspelled Zakir

I might not go this year. Steve Roach is tempting though.

just noticed Steve Coleman on there. gross!

Michael Rother also tempting.

Maybe I should go see both Marisa Anderson and Marissa Nadler so I can stop confusing them.

Still unemployed :(

Good time to remind you all to download Fuzzzel, the white noise app with THREE artists from the Big Ears 2025 lineup! :)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fuzzzel-artisanal-white-noise/id6596783978

I might not go this year. Steve Roach is tempting though.

Rightly. (Seriously, amazing set earlier this year.)

no zoh amba?? no credibility

Last year. But I was really hoping for Beings.

Clipping and king britt are cool … this lineup seems more snoozy/MOR than previous years. A lot of nice people on the bill though! I like them as people more than I find their music compelling but I am now one of those impatient old people so …

my post was a joke, sorry.

i am sincerely tempted by ahmed and pat thomas -- i wonder when we'll know what day they will be playing, and if there are other dates for a US tour

A lot of musicians seem to make Big Ears part of a tour. I’d really want to see Ahmed as well.

this lineup seems more snoozy/MOR than previous years.

That may be true depending on how you classify some of the acts, but as someone who's been to almost every Big Ears (all but the first) and heard the reactions to the rollout of their lineups, this is also something that I've seen somebody say every year.

Last year's big names were very Nonesuch Records, this year's big names are very Pitchfork+NPR, but there's still enough insane stuff to keep real headz busy for four days straight

I mean they got the Maria Chavez/Mariam Rezaei/Victoria Shen trio ... if you use that time to see Waxahatchee or whatever, that's on you

Passes are getting very expensive or is it my imagination? I’m pretty sure $750 for the early bird price for a premier pass is the most it’s been.

i impulse-bought a GA ticket yesterday. i still have never been to this festival (was supposed to go to the 2020 one womp womp). i am excited to finally have a chance to go even if i am not quite as enthused for this particular lineup as i was that year’s. lots of ppl i’m excited for nonetheless!

Can confirm passes have gotten more expensive. Everything has gotten more expensive, so it's about getting everybody paid. (Big Ears is a nonprofit, fwiw.)

That's part of why it's being programmed into a lot of people's tours, because it can take a lot to get a whole show together and bring all the way to Knoxville for a one-off. Make it part of a Southeastern swing and it's easier to make the numbers work.

(oops also typo'd Lankum in the OP. I'm looking forward to them even if I can't spell them.)

That reliance on who’s touring seems to mean less acts not from the U.S., and having oh Waxahatchee and Taj Mahal rather than more obscure but still interesting acts ( and I say that as someone who likes those 2)

Herbie Hancock just played his regular tour set last year, I was kind of hoping for something more out-there

Yeah. There are still a lot of international acts, but among other things visas are a perpetual challenge. They have had several people who were scheduled pull out in recent years because of visa issues. So obviously having American acts makes that easier.

Was supposed to see Fred van Hove in 2019 and he couldn't get a visa. I thought it was Trump era thing but I guess visas are still tough under Biden?

I've seen a number of European musicians (not Big Ears level of popularity though) play in the US in recent years and be billed under slightly different names, or just by their initials. It seems to be because they entered the country on tourist visas and need to fly under the radar somewhat.

I don’t know if I’ll make it but man it would be great to see Tortoise AND Jeff Parker in whatever configuration

(Only saw Tortoise once, around 2001 or so in Philly)

Yeah I've not had the chance to see either Tortoise or Parker, definitely will. Would love to see you here Raymond!

One of our mutuals has already begun his perennial campaign to get me there! We’ll see.

Xp Visa talk

In my experience as a “small font on the festival poster” musician, the cost of visas has gone up both ways between the US and EU. So has every other aspect of touring. You book the festival show and hope to book the tour around it. The visa cost is a sunk cost, so you wait until the tour is booked before you go for the visa. If it takes a long time to book the tour, then any delay in the visa process can fuck everything up.

Ugh. Yeah it seems hard.

Does the venues offer single-event tickets, and/or are there single-day passes, or do you have to buy the whole event ticket or you're out of luck?

Last year you could buy a single ticket to the Andre 3000 shows. But that seemed kind of controversial. So probably no single event tickets this year.

One of these years I'll make it out there

There are single-day tix that go on sale later, after they announce who’s playing which days.

The single-event tix for the Andre shows were specific to him, because he was a late add and the only way to make it work was to do that. Those shows sold fairly well, given that there were five of them. Not aware of anything like that this year, but I suppose someone could always roll up.

Thanks for the info! A few friends and I want to organize a gathering to check out the festival, and a few mentioned that they'd only be free for one day of it, so it's great to know they can still get into some shows

The Richmond , Va folk fest has a fairly big definition of folk and for free Saturday September 28 one can see :

CoStar Group Stage
12:00 – 12:45​​Peni Candra Rini (Javanese sindhen)
1:00 – 2:00 ​​Sultans of Shred—Albert Lee, Bombino, Eddie Cotton, Jr., Ustad Noor Bakhsh ( Pakistani musician)

New additions: Beth Gibbons, Julien Baker & Torres, Carlos Nino, more: https://bigearsfestival.org/welcome-beth-gibbons-julien-baker-torres-and-more/

Swamp Dogg!

Yeah, psyched for that. He’s 82!

That recent movie doc on him was great

Swamp Dogg live is delightful

RIP Zakir Hussain

Yeah, so sad. Was looking forward to seeing him.

Who did you folks see?

[ahmed] relegated to small text with les claypool headlining is so, so shameful

A few more things to see today, but personal highlights are: Charles Lloyd's tribute/memorial to Zakir Hussain; Dawn Richard with Spencer Zahn; ahmed; Eiko Ishibashi's live score to the Hamaguchi film; beak>; Maruja; Michael Rother; a late-night set with Lonnie Holley, Alabaster DePlume and Shahzad Ismaily; and Lankum. Lots of stuff I would have loved to see but couldn't make it to. Looking forward to Mabe Fratti today, along with Vijay Iyer's Fieldwork trio.

Oh and Cassandra Jenkins was as warm and sad as expected, although the mix didn't quite get the balance right.

I'm not there this year because the lineup (Michael Rother and Steve Roach notwithstanding) just wasn't worth the price and crowds. Are the venues packed again?

Pretty crowded yep

I will go again some year.

ahmed fucking ripped

Absolutely hate that I can't be there