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.

Dang, Adrian Sherwood and Chucho Valdes are both out. It just says "circumstances beyond their control," wonder if it's visa issues. That's a problem every year.

Sherwood (at least) hasn't cancelled his tour yet, right? He's still scheduled to play here April 1.

https://www.adriansherwood.com/live-dates/

tipsy I sent you an ilxmail. is there a better way to get in touch?

Oh yeah, I think I need to update my ilxmail.

You can write me at jm@ysh@rk at gmail (with a's for the @'s)

Do we have a roll call for Big Ears yet? Did anyone want to say hi/grab a drink/see a show?

We should for sure!

I haven't totally locked in my schedule/wishlist yet, but I'll be down there by Thursday night, leaving Monday morning. I'm with friends that have tickets to see David Byrne Friday night, and other than regular Big Ears shows and maybe a commitment Sunday night I am pretty open. I'm sure there are some days where I'll be downtown relatively early (I'm staying outside the city) with time to kill.

I wish Mathieu Amalric's three-part theater-only Zorn doc wasn't screening at such random/early times.

alright the only way i can think of to do this is for everyone who wants to get together email my ilxmail with your email address and i’ll create a “group chat” with email addresses, an “email chain” if you will

I'm not going to make it this year unfortunately - hope y'all have a great time!

x-post- On Adrian Sherwood's Instagram 2 days ago he posted that he has to postpone his North American tour to 2027 because the visas he paid for and have waited for for 6 months have not been processed yet and therefore he can't book flights, hotels, etc.

Anyone go?

Yeah it was a blast (until I came down with some respiratory thing or other on day 3, I think related to seasonal allergies, anyway had to go home with a sudden onset fever). Josh in Chicago and Tracer Hand were here as well, we met up for breakfast and Josh and I saw some shows together (see WDYLL thread for evidence). My faves were Wild Up doing Julius Eastman's "Femenine," which I'd never heard and was quite tremendous — moving; Zorn reuniting with the OG Masada for the first time in a bit, which was of course just fantastic; SML, so good, so much fun; YHWH Nailgun, twitchy and off-kilter; Mei Semones with her fantastic band; Lucrecia Dalt, whoa what stage presence; and BASIC, even though it's not my favorite Chris Forsyth project it was still a chance to see him, which I never had. Of the things I was excited about the one I was least taken with was Dirty Three. I'd never seen them before but knew they're a legendary live band. But I dunno. I know some people who liked the show and others (including big Dirty Three fans) who didn't. I will always watch Jim White do anything, but Warren Ellis' wildman shtick felt sort of performative and almost phoned in to me, I did not vibe with it. Didn't help that it was a late show, started at 11:15, and I was pretty worn out. Wasn't in the mood for his antics I guess lol.

I'm sure Josh and Tracer can weigh in with their own accounts, which I'm sure are vastly different because no two people ever have the same festival.

Still home feeling punky, and therefore am right now missing Orcutt Shelley Miller, which was slated to be my festival ender. Ah well.

Speaking of Sonic Youth-adjacent projects, I did see some of Thurston and Shabaka, which was basically what you'd expect. Some flute tweets, a bunch of feedback, Thurston whacking the guitar with a drumstick, etc. Things picked up a bit when Shabaka picked up his sax, they developed a little bit of flow.

Not there but IG stories I saw of Munit Mesfin, dc area based Ethiopian singer, with the Either/Or Orchestra doing Ethiopiques looked great.

I really really wanted to see that show, it was one I missed yesterday by virtue of getting sick boo

Would have loved to see that, too!

I'll give a full rundown after I get home.

This Chicago Underground Due clip popped up in my feed on Bluesky yesterday (some other photos/clips in the same guy's feed. That converted Greyhound station looks like a neat venue, as long as the acoustics were OK.

*Underground Duo

Yeah the acoustics at the bus terminal were fine, and it was a pretty cool space. Saw one of the SML sets there.

sorry to hear of the health woes tipsy. it was so great to meet you finally!

I quite dumbly thought I’d be able to catch you guys later on at annie & the caldwells but I didn’t see you.

The standout of the weekend for me was Marc Ribot with Hurry Red Telephone. just bristling music, veering between rock and out jazz and even gospel - at one point they did “down to the river to pray,” with marc practically growling the lyrics, and he added some lines about renee good and alex pretti. really caught everyone on the hop. An hour later I saw the sax player, Briggan Krauss, smoking a cigarette under an awning during a brief rainshower, and talked with him for a little while.

tipsy i wound up running into madeline rogero literally every night of the festival lol. (i also ran into the current mayor on the bridge. she knows my friend from work his firm did on the Augusta quarry)

actually i’d say right up there with Ribot was the Wild Up dance party tribute to Arthur Russell at the Greyhound station. that was on that cold and windy night, and a friend of mine had lost her wristband, and she was trying to talk her way into it. at that moment a woman who looked vaguely familiar approached us and it turned out it was my old camp counselor, as well as my friend josh’s. we’re falling over about this, the manager turns up to deal with the missing wristband claim, and she turns to look at the new woman and goes.. wait a minute… i think you were my camp counsellor when i was a teenager!! pandemonium. needless to say the missing wristband was not an issue after that.

anyway once inside, this band was simply astonishing. probably a dozen instruments, mixed races, mixed genders and orientations, and a band leader who was coaxing them, settling them down, pointing at them, just kind of sculpting the whole thing. and the music didn’t let up for like 2 hours. at one point a young, very hairy singer with spiked bracelets climbed the lighting rig to scream words from Go Bang. and at another point a diminutive east asian woman from the crowd got up on the stage and absolutely WAILED over the music. it was all utterly exhilarating. and i think a really necessary release after the often quite focused listening that happens elsewhere. my friend josh said he misses the regular late DJ sets that used to happen after all the stages were closed - people would wash up there, congregate, trade stories, get loose and let it all out.

I saw Hurry Red Telephone a month ago in Mpls and it was awesome, one the best Ribot shows I've ever seen, everyone playing out of their minds

big ears was totally fun. i'm exhausted.

A guy in town has been posting a bunch of clips on his IG

Yeah sorry not to run into you again Tracer! I also ran into Madeline later on Saturday and she grabbed my arm and was like, “Are you meeting up with [government name redacted]? I’ve known him since he was 5!” Glad you had a good fest! Also glad that the thing I have does not appear to be viral, because the first thing I thought was all the people I had been hanging out with over the last three days and anything I might have exposed them to.

Tyler who is sometimes here was doing a “transmission “ aquarium drunkard chat with others on YouTube about the event and what they saw

yeah that's me! we had a pretty fun time, though everyone was slightly regretting the "morning show" aspect, waking up early is not amazing at a fest like that haha. cool guests: thurston moore + kramer, william tyler + yasmin williams, setting, grayson currin, chris forsyth, various winged wheelers, many more ...

archived over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=streams

They're all loose rambles, forgive me.

i guess that didn't work — they're under the "live" section here: http://www.youtube.com/@aquariumdrunkard7703

Nice! I wanted to get to one of those but uh yeah the morning hours ...

getting there Sunday morning was BRUTAl, but hopefully we rallied.

what a wild fest though, really feels like a fever dream. in a good way.

Yeah it's a blast. And this is a total hometown-centric take, but it's especially heightened for the natives, because a.) it transforms all these familiar spaces into a parade of marvels, and b.) we get to spend the whole time running into all our friends and feeling good about our town. Pretty cool.

tyler we should have met up!

brandon seabrook is an old friend of mine and he did a solo banjo thing. we got DUMPLINGS! afterwards and he told me he feels Big Ears is just run super well. he also can’t think of another American festival like it in terms of the spread of genres

my only gripe is how quickly you get run out of the venues after the last note is played. 5 minutes, i just want 5 minutes to decompress and feel the reverberations

xp yeah i should have checked this thread, didn't realize so many of us would be there. i did run into former poster stormy davis though!

Wait, Stormy as in ... Electrifying Mojo? My memory for screen names is terrible, but last I saw him (he and I went to school together) was when I took him to see Motley Crue some time back. It would have been great to see him again, as well as meet you, Tyler. Next time! Regardless, it was wonderful to see Tipsy again, and to meet Tracer. Would have been nice to hang even more, but there was so much to see! And adding to the praise, this might have been the best run, best sounding, least corporate/gross fest I’ve ever been to. I talked to so many random strangers while killing time in line, from young dudes that drove 17 hours from Austin to a guy I am 90% sure worked for the CIA, and everyone was so nice and enthusiastic. It’s rare that I encounter anyone that’s even heard of John Zorn, so how wild to be in a place where literally everyone was at least familiar by name if not big fans.

Anyway, let me offer some quick, sloppy, rambling takes on all I caught at least big parts of, an invigorating, inspiring blur!

I got in late Thursday, too late to catch Pat Metheny, but I did catch:

Tunde Adebimpe: Would have been better with a band, but it was a good solo performance. He’s clearly working through some stuff, but it was ultimately uplifting.

YWHH Nailgun: I don’t quite get their deal, but it was intriguing. Reminded me of … Swans, maybe?

William Hooker Quartet: good stuff, hadn’t seen Hooker perform for a long time

Marc Ribot’s Shrek: I love Ribot the player, but I’ve rarely been into him as band leader/composer. The group was cool (Chad Taylor, Ches Smith, Sebastian Steinberg, Mary Halvorson and Ribot), but I wasn’t really feeling it.

Friday

I went to the early Zorn panel discussion with John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, Dave Lombardo and Barbara Hannigan. It was absolutely illuminating, maybe the best glimpse into the black box of Zorn-world I’ve ever gotten. Not long later I randomly bumped into Lombardo on the street, stopped him to say hi and had a nice conversation. An absolute sweetheart!

Masada I: Honestly the reason I came down. I’d seen the OG Masada (Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen and Joey Baron) before, but (thanks to Tipsy saving me a seat) it was amazing to see them again. The joy on Joey Baron’s face is something to behold.

Petra Haden Love Songs: Again, great band (Haden, Ches Smith, Jorge Roeder, and Brian Marsella), and the songs were pretty, but didn’t always hold my attention. I heard multiple people throughout the day saying they thought something was off with Haden.

Laurie Anderson keynote: A multimedia essay/lecture/performance. She is a national treasure, and on par with Eno as someone whose intellectual curiosity just radiates.

Pino Palladino and Blake Mills: Mills and the band are great players but, man, Pino. The guy’s groove is indomitable, downright hypnotic.

Met my wife and friends for dinner, then went to see David Byrne. I’d seen him on this tour already but was happy to see it again, if only to watch the faces of the other five of us (one of whom barely knew Talking Heads; I somehow convinced a crew to come down with me, but I was the only festival goer).

Awakening Ground: A midnight improv set with Zorn, John Medeski and Dave Lombardo. I was expecting to need my earplugs, but no! A lot of it was surprisingly mellow and soulful, and maybe because the drums were mixed at jazz levels even the double bass barrage was less assaulting than I expected.

Saturday:

After a nice breakfast with Tipsy, Tracer, and another Josh (I didn’t even attempt to get into Cobra), Tipsy and I went to see Annie and the Caldwells, small town Mississippi gospel funk that at times reminded me of Cameo, or the Gap Band. Then I followed Tipsy to see a bit of Thurston Moore and Shabaka Hutchings. They might as well have been in different rooms; another friend of mine down there said it was the only set this weekend he walked out of.

Junction Trio Plays Zorn: Just absolutely virtuoso chamber work, later joined by Ches Smith and Jorge Roeder. I could barely wrap my mind around the level of playing, following what must have been tightrope charts.

Saw a bit of Mary Halvorson as band leader; she’s always great.

Fred Frith, Simon Hanes, Max Jaffe, Jordan Glenn Quartet: The only set I needed earplugs for! Frith was having a blast. He’s 77, another guy getting up there I was glad I caught.

The Saami Brothers featuring Ustaad Naseerudding Saaim: I wish I had time to see not just a taste but the whole 90 minute set of Khhayal and Qawwali in a church; Ustaad Naseerudding Saaim is in his ‘80s and is apparently one of the last of his kind of microtonal vocal masters.

Incerto: Lovely set starring Julian Lage, Ches Smith, Jorge Roder and John Medeski. On the less frenetic side of Zorn compositions.

Richard Thompson: Caught 15 minutes, because I could. Richard Thompson is the best. Fave moment was him mentioning recording the song he just played with Joe Boyd, “who I think is here, but if he’s not … screw him!” And a second later Boyd, somewhere by the soundboard, piped up with a “I’m here!”

I was tired, so called it an early night after this to get BBQ with my traveling companions.

Sunday was probably the least stressful day in terms of what I wanted to see. Started with Brian Marsella’s Imaginarium, mostly because I was waiting for the line at Julian Lage down the street to die down. The Marsella thing was by far the most annoying set I caught, so I left not long into it; too Zappa-y for my tastes. Lage (with Medeski, Roeder and Kenny Wollesen) was ironically maybe too tasteful, but I always love seeing Lage play. From there I went to see the Lou Reed drone installation (some of his guitars feeding back in the Greyhound station), then some of Cécile McLorin Salvant; I’m not generally a fan of vocal jazz, but she was a great singer/interpreter. From there I went to the entirety of So Percussion’s performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming (because how often do you get to see that?; it was transcendent) and then Shane Parish doing a set of his Autechre for acoustic guitar, which was a trip. Unless I am forgetting something, the final thing I caught (before my friend’s birthday dinner) was Nels Cline’s Lovers. I’m not a big fan of Cline, but what I saw was lovely, especially the version of Sonic Youth’s “Snare, Girl,” which made me want to revisit “A Thousand Leaves.” The band was huge, with a small orchestra of horns and strings enhancing everything.

Takeaway: it’s not cheap, but if the lineup next year is this good, I could totally see myself going back again!

Lombardo is a super nice guy. I've interviewed him twice, once when Slayer made their last album with Hanneman and once for a Wire cover story, and he's just great to talk to.

Yeah I should’ve mentioned the Pino show too, he and the drummer — Chris Dave — were so deep in the pocket that it was almost a gravitational pull, a black hole pulling the beat back. Loved it.

(Also loved it because it made me think of his work with D’Angelo.)

the Masada show at midnight on Saturday was terrific. a little short maybe but so great. at one point Dave Douglas just starts laughing at Zorn, big guffaws. There’s something a little.. macho? about Zorn, something kind of irritating and salacious about the way he pushes everybody, but you can’t argue with the results.

looking at josh's rundown, it's hilarious that I had an almost completely alternate lineup of shows that I saw — but I would've loved to see everything he saw, too! it really is almost too much.

That should be capitalized, Chris Dave is The Drummer.

This all sounds great and overwhelming, would have loved to have seen Masada, Pino/Mills/Dave, and the Parkerverse especially.

The SML performances I saw were transcendent, just ridiculous.

Hmm, I'll have to think about Zorn as macho, though I know what you mean. I think it's a facet of his punk-ish nature, kind of no bullshit writ large, to the extent that it sometimes comes off as ... bullshit, lol? The panel discussion I saw, everyone involved talked about how he made all of them better players and performers, and these are people that already started out among the best in the world. From Lombardo to Hannigan, they all stressed that once you earn his trust, he's one of the nicest, kindest, most generous and encouraging people in the world. I noticed that over the weekend when he wasn't playing he was always just off-stage, sitting on a pillow, watching and cheering. When he introduced Petra Haden (who like I said, may have been not entirely herself), he did it with a huge smile, declaring "we love you!" and giving her a big hug. After the first Masada set, he gave Joey a big smooch on the head, lol. The panel said it might seem intimidating to see him watching you, but he's doing it out of love and enthusiasm. Though they also said you have to pay attention to catch his cues, and if you miss something he'll make sure you know!

Are things like the panel discussion available to watch online? There were some incredible details. Apparently Zorn handles everything for his crew, above and beyond to an almost unique extent. Hannigan said for a festival he gets paid a lump sum upfront, which he distributes fairly, but then he also stays involved every step of the way, arranging transportation, hotels, etc. She said it's unlike anything she's ever dealt with before. He'll often stay in the lobby at whatever locale they all find themselves in, ensuring that all the musicians get everything they need, from early check-ins to other necessities, and only once it is all figured out does he retreat to his own room. They all talked about what a good cheerleader he is, pushing just hard enough because he knows what they all can do, a standard they all said they now take with them to other non-Zorn projects.

One of my friends made a snarky comment about how she gets annoyed by people who wear camo ironically — understandable maybe in a place where it's part of the unironic he-man MAGA uniform — but my take on his camo cargo pants is more like yours, it feels like kind of a punk-rock vestige, '80s downtown dystopia, buying cheap clothes at the Army supply store. I'm not sure it's ironic per se.

I think it started out as ironic nose-thumbing at the jazz and classical establishments - here I am in your club, wearing camo pants and a Napalm Death T-shirt - but now it's more like some genius academic who wears the exact same suit every day because it's one less thing to think about.

Totally

It's definitely a uniform. Every time I've seen him (at least in the last 10 years or so) it's been camo pants, one of his band's shirts and, under that, tzitzit (Jewish prayer tassels) dangling out (a reflection of both his relationship with Judaism and his rejection of any commandment to practice his faith or embrace spirituality on anyone else's terms). But also, per the camo, he is, of course, notoriously combative, in the rare interviews he grants and sometimes with his audience. Apparently after the second Masada set he flipped off a fan that had been hounding him all weekend to get him to autograph some stuff.

https://artsfuse.org/326868/music-festival-review-big-ears-2026-guitars-big-bands-and-a-world-of-unhinged-sounds/?fbclid=PAZnRzaAQ80dtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAadhEumpVYGsVZOjauudJtiGQUlui-l_OBSihyHNZT15vyVslkIIST8OW-DzeA_aem_JC8h4K3Z6RALJHd-uWyVRA

Noah S and Paul , writers from Boston, on what they saw at Big Ears

Hmm. That was very much a list of what they saw, I'll give them that.

Writer Noah S from that link saw the Saami Brothers from Pakistan when I did once at the Richmond, Va folk fest and they were great, but it looks like he didn’t see them this time. They and their Dad are great vocalists.

I saw about 30 minutes of it, but then had to go.

Apparently after the second Masada set he flipped off a fan that had been hounding him all weekend to get him to autograph some stuff.

AHH...I witnessed that (it was after "Cobra") from about 15 feet away and wondered what that was all about. He flipped the guy off and also told him "fuck you".