Big Ears - Day One

Despite the appearance of that Lego-looking train station, I'm not in Minecraft-land but in Knoxville, Tennessee for the annual Big Ears music festival, my sixth since 2018 (the fest was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the covids).

Big Ears specializes in jazz, experimental and avant-garde music, but my opening night could have been mistaken for the Pitchfork Festival. That's neither a complaint nor a boast, just a statement of fact. I opened this year with a set by Yo La Tengo, despite the fact that I've seen them many times before. I do love their most recent album though, a return to 90s indie form in my opinion, and their set last night was as energetic and exciting as any I've seen by them, Bonus points: they were accompanied by guitarist William Tyler for this set.

After Yo La Tengo, I saw bassoonist Joy Guidry, a decidedly only-at-Big Ears, non-Pitchfork set. In contrast to the full band and gospel singing of her recent LP, Amen, Joy performed in a trio setting, accompanied by a violinist/keyboardist and a drummer. The music was atmospheric and almost ambient, quite a contrast to the full-throated, joyous Amen (the festival subtitled her set as Amen). I was disappointed, although once I realized that the set wasn't going to be a cover of the album but something else, I settled in and really dug the spooky atmospherics. . They played in a near-dark church, so no photography was possible.

Back to Pitchfork-land: although not officially a part of Big Ears, Knoxville's adventurous Pilot Light club was running a small DIY event of their own, and after Joy Guidry, I walked over to the club and caught a set by Animal Collective's Geologist. Playing solo with a hand-cranked hurdy-gurdy and electronics, he managed to create psychedelic, occasionally eastern sounding drones and jams in the tiny club (I think the stage was larger than the audience area). I was surprised that despite Animal Collective's popularity, I got in without waiting on a line and was able to walk right up to the stage...   

My final set of the night was Nicolas Jaar's Darkside. I cut it close time-wise (didn't want to leave Geologist early) but was still able to walk right into the venue (I have a VIP pass) and got reasonably close to the stage. It was n exciting and fun set of driving EDM/IDM music and surprisingly textured and varied for the genre (it wasn't ALL four-on-the-floor dance beats) but still got the audience moving.

So four bands on the opening night and I even had time to stop in an Irish pub for a beer. I also met with some friends after the Darkside show for another couple beers, too. A good start for a good festival.