Road Trip: Big Ears Music Festival

The Big Ears Music Festival returns to historic downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, for its eighth edition March 21–24, 2019. During the last decade, Big Ears has developed a reputation for presenting preeminent musical pioneers and cutting-edge innovators from a wide swath of genres, earning it praise from The New York Timesas “a music festival with a rare vision” and from Rolling Stone as “a listening experience unlike any other in America.”

This year’s Big Ears lineup is again unlike any other in the country, mixing an audacious slate of special programs, central themes, and world premieres with powerful sets from some of music’s most compelling new voices. With more than 100 concerts, workshops, installations, and interactive experiences, Big Ears is clearly the most adventurous and ambitious festival in the United States. Big Ears 2019 will turn Knoxville into one of the world’s creative epicenters for a remarkable long weekend. Tickets are now on sale at www.bigearsfestival.org.

Big Ears 2019 leads with a network of vital musicians and legendary innovators working across multiple genres, from rock ’n’ roll and free jazz to classical composition and dance music. Spiritualized and Mercury Rev supply their ecclesiastic psychedelic rock, while Nils Frahm, Jlin, Carl Stone, and The Comet is Comingall offer unique visions of what it means to make electronic music right now.