Big Ears 2026

This might be my year!

https://bigearsfestival.org/

David Byrne appears everywhere

But Adrian Sherwood hasn’t in a bit

They have some slightly younger acts too

Awww baby Simon Hanes!

never thought I'd see Lucrecia Dalt and Neil Hamburger in the same lineup

Singing "What a Wonderful World" together, I hope.

The timing is always just a little wrong for me -- partially because I usually use some vacation time for Pop Conference earlier in the month, but also that's a regular holiday weekend in my schedule where I go see my folks (and given they're both in their 80s now and my dad's been dealing with some things healthwise, priorities, y'know). Hope folks have a blast!

I just had a writer say he wants to cover this for Burning Ambulance, so I've submitted a press accreditation request for him.

would really love to see Dirty Three again

that Mike Patton/Avett Brothers thing is extremely wtf

That reminds me, I have to put in for mine too.

Heh, I should have tried, but whatevs, I'm committed. Still have no idea how to juggle all the stuff, there is so much catching my eye. I suspect I'll just have to stifle fomo and stick with my Zorn-centric mission.

I haven't bought a pass yet because I'm not sure whether I'll be able to take time off work. How were the lines for standard admission last year?

Well like always some of the lines were long — it's pretty dependent on the artist and venue. The hardest to get into are the Bijou (700 capacity, but they book a lot of the prestige acts there), the Standard (200 capacity), Jig & Reel (don't even know, like 100? 70?). Mill & Mine and Tennessee only tend to hit capacity on the biggest names, and I don't know that the Civic Auditorium ever has.

Yeah I'm fully prepared to not be able to get into the Anderson & Zorn duo at the Bijou.

I'm sort of already regretting shelling out, tbh. I get stressed about uncertainty, and I'm worried I'm making the trek down there and spending all that cash and I'm going to end up standing in a bunch of lines for stuff I want to see but ultimately can't get into.

At Big Ears, The ten-piece E/O will be joined by legendary Ethiopian vocalist Teshome Mitiku and younger gen vocalist Munit Mesfin for a dive into their Ethiopian songbook.

Munit Mesfin is DC-based and has a great voice and is a wonderful person. She just sang with the Either/Or Orchestra at the NYC Winter Jazz fest. Recommended for Ethiopiques fans.

Also see that Thurston Moore is doing a set with Shabaka Hutchings

I'm sort of already regretting shelling out, tbh. I get stressed about uncertainty, and I'm worried I'm making the trek down there and spending all that cash and I'm going to end up standing in a bunch of lines for stuff I want to see but ultimately can't get into.

fwiw I think you can usually get into something you really want to, you just show up when the line starts. That necessarily sacrifices other things you could see in the meantime, so it's always a balancing act. The one exception is if you happen to really want to see two things back to back in the same place, because the line will start to form while you're watching the first one. Even then though, if you go right outside and get back in line, I think you can mostly get in. Places that pack out often aren't actually packed out by showtime, they just get that way by 10-15 minutes in. (I'm sure there are exceptions.)

i'm going this year (first time ever!)

fap?

Heck yeah!

I'm down! I tricked a group of friends to drive down with me, but I'm the only one going to any shows.

I'm sort of already regretting shelling out, tbh. I get stressed about uncertainty, and I'm worried I'm making the trek down there and spending all that cash and I'm going to end up standing in a bunch of lines for stuff I want to see but ultimately can't get into.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, January 15, 2026 2:40 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah if you show up 15-20 min before, you are probably getting in.

I may have said this in this thread or another, but when I did Zornmania at Big Ears, I was just getting out of the theater and getting right back in line for the next one.

Wow, my writer's press credential got approved! There will be Big Ears coverage on BA.

Cool!

Nice!

Looks like the Avett Brothers & Mike Patton show got cancelled. It was one of the extra ticket shows, so I wonder if they will slot someone else in there. On the addition side, Shane Parish was just announced, doing a set of Autechre Guitar, which should be dope.