From Atlanta to Knoxville: My Big Ears Experience
Big Ears Festival was four days and three nights of synthesizers, saxophones, street theater, and more. I spent March 30th to April 3rd exploring Knoxville and discovering new weird art.
My partner went to Big Ears last year. He was amazed and obsessed, leading him to buy us both tickets for 2023 and book a perfectly located AirBnB as soon as they were available. Aside from the two friends we went with, we only know a few other Atlantans who went to the festival, or who even know about it. So, I’m sharing our experience with you in hopes that you discover a new artist you like, get inspired to create, and maybe even pencil Big Ears into your calendar for 2024. (We’ll be there - let’s hang out.)
With almost 200 performances in several venues around Knoxville, the tenth anniversary of Big Ears Festival was truly a choose-your-own-adventure event. We managed to see 25 acts - most of which were music but we also squeezed in some theatre, a talk, and a few movies - and visited more than 8 venues. Each performance was cool, experimental, and unique in its own way. Here are some highlights and micro-reviews of 6 things we saw:
Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul - I first heard the track “HAHA” in a friend’s car and immediately added it to my latest Spotify playlist. I loved it but never considered how awesome it would be to see live. This song… No, this whole performance oozed talent. The set was dark and dancey with progressive lyrics. During a song about how “silence is scary”, the duo paused to eat bananas. Their act was phenomenal and weird. It made me want to be a performer more than anything I’ve seen in a long time.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Cécile McLorin Salvant - This was the closest I felt to being at a musical all weekend. Salvant delivered a show tune,jazzy,cabrera-esq set in the Bijou, a beautiful theater with velvet seats. I thought her voice was unique, in part because I don’t listen to a lot of international music. She sang songs in English, French, Occitan, and Haitian Kreyòl. Salvant is the type of person who is both sexy and cute. Her performance was full of impressive vocal range and classic storytelling.
32 Sounds - We were greeted at the same Bijou Theater with a fancy pair of headphones for the viewing of 32 Sounds, an immersive documentary and sensory experience that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound. The film is meant for a live audience - the filmmaker, Sam Green, provided live narration right into our eardrums, complete with live original music from JD Samson. This was extraordinary and made me reconsider the way we experience sound.
Oneohtrix Point Never
Oneohtrix Point Never was way too loud. I’m an OPN fan, and even I didn’t last long. I had ear plugs in and was sitting in the very back row of the largest Big Ears venue, Knoxville Civic Auditorium. I can’t imagine how people in the front row felt. I assume their whole bodies were vibrating. The visuals were cool but not cool enough for me to sacrifice my hearing.
The Music of Eliane Radigue - We arrived about halfway through this set but didn’t even make it 2 minutes before we had to leave. It’s kind of a funny story, actually. This was the quietest instrumental music I’ve ever heard - I’m talking, one gong hit every 20 seconds, slow strumming of one string - so ambient and quiet that it’s almost silent. Most of the audience is closing their eyes with hopes that they’ll be able to hear it better. I wasn’t very into it and was thirsty from biking around Knoxville, so I took a big gulp from my water bottle and then… a coughing fit came over me. I could not keep it in. The coughs were much louder than the “music” and they echoed through St. John’s Cathedral. We power-walked out of that church, embarrassed and still coughing, before having a big laugh about it.
Puppet Pageant and Street Party (organized by the Cattywampus Puppet Council) - I felt like I knew everyone at the puppet pageant. I saw some Atlanta doppelgängers but mainly a lot of friendly looking faces - both human and paper mache! Everyone was smiling. The puppets were interesting and playful, and were made by art collectives and schools from around the city. From a larger-than-life Dolly Parton to a dancing bear, the puppet pageant was a showcase of craft, creativity, collaboration, and play. It reminded me of home.
Big Ears Festival “brings a Who’s Who of acclaimed iconoclasts, innovators, and luminaries together with inspired younger artists making fresh and new creative work.” This production was so big (in so many ways) and it surprised me that it was all contained within a walking radius of downtown Knoxville. All weekend, I thought about how much collaboration and partnership it took to produce this. I wondered if we could ever make something like Big Ears happen in Atlanta and honestly, I don’t think we could. Not only because Georgia ranks so low in arts funding (we’re dead last at #50 while Tennessee is #18) but we also don’t collaborate on a large scale. I’ve never seen anything like it before and I was inspired. So inspired, that I wrote this down and shared it on the internet.
I could (without a doubt) say this was the coolest music festival I’ve ever been to - but that’s not saying much because my music festival experience is limited to camping in cars with my college friends, smoking weed, nodding to jam bands, and stepping to electronic music. So, I won’t say that. Instead, I’ll brag that Big Ears was the coolest event I’ve ever been to. That feels like a better review considering I’ve been to, worked, and produced hundreds of music and art events over the past 7 years. This experience reminded me how excited I am to keep growing, learning, creating, and discovering. Thank you, Big Ears Festival for reminding me to always keep my ears open.
