List of band t-shirts spotted at #BigEars 2026, in order of sighting:
X
Geese
Napalm Death
System of a Down
The Roots
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Belle and Sebastian
Acid Bath
Yo La Tengo
Sunn 0)))
Sleater Kinney
Low
John Cage
Leonard Cohen
King Crimson
Herbie Hancock
Jesus and Mary Chain
1/
We were selling this in the #bigears record shop! Great stuff!
Something we learned at #bigears was that there are numerous music labels who have pulled their catalogs from Spotify in protest. Also, there are some who have very little digital footprint at all. Love to see it :)
Laurie Anderson, on stage with the ensemble Sexmob, with a screen of words scrolling behind her — chestfeed + people, chestfeed + person, clean energy, climate crisis…
“If you can’t say it, if you can’t define it, if you can’t put it into words, things can just…disappear.”
Laurie Anderson, with a screen of DELETED WORDS scrolling behind her at #BigEars on Sunday
My #BigEars 2026 recap: I walked 24 miles over four days, and saw sets (or pieces thereof) by:
* Masada (Quartet)
* Ches Smith’s Clone Row
* Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick
* SML
* Pan American + Kramer
* Uhlmann / Johnson / Wilkes
* Dave Harrington & Mary Lattimore
* Janel […]
Thank you Laurie Anderson for using your encore to guide the audience through Tai Chi moves that Lou Reed taught you #BigEars #BigEarsFestival
iMAGiNARiUM
Orcutt, Shelley, Miller
I am #bigears tired today.
Last day was stellar.
Standouts:
-Chicago Underground Duo
-Brian Marsella’s iMAGiNARiUM
- Chris Thile
- SG Goodman
- Orcutt, Shelley, Miller
Laurie Anderson on stage with the ensemble Sexmob. Behind her, on screen: And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard rain gonna fall.
Same as the first image except the screen has changed and now reads Oh, what did you see my brown eyed son? What did you see my darling young one?
one #BigEars highlight among many: Laurie Anderson covering Bob Dylan
At my final set of #BigEars, Openness Trio, and the group concluded a triumphant song, got a big round of applause, and then silence after as everyone stays.
Carlos Niño says, “Well, we were thinking that was it but you guys aren’t leaving so I guess we’ll play some more.”
That’s Big Ears for ya
Yeehaw! Got a short people spot for SG Goodman!!
Cant see shit in this venue unless I’m up on the rail. #bigears
An entirely green-tinted photo (it was the actual color onstage, not a filter). Foreground left there is a dude in a denim jacket and sunglasses playing a trumpet. Upstage and to the right, a drumkit and a man playing it.
Chicago Underground Duo. Great set, although between the dim green lighting and Rob Mazurek’s trademark shades, it is perhaps not surprising that he seemed to be at war with his sampler intermittently throughout the set. #BigEars
#BigEars 2026
At the Standard in Knoxville right now. The legendary Joel Berk in bottom left corner (if you click on the image to see the full frame)
#BigEars
with the Chicago Underground Duo at the Standard in Knoxville right now
#BigEars
This was fascinating. I loved hearing these women speak about emotional, musical, spiritual, ancestral, generational, and physical home. #bigears
Annie & The Caldwells
Either Orchestra
Cymande
Saving Grace w/ Robert Plant
Final day of #bigears
Yesterday highlights:
Saving Grace w/ Robert Plant.
Cymande- impossibly fab
Hailey Heynderickx
Annie & The Caldwells
Carlos Nino & Saul Williams
Either Orchestra - so groovy
Madison Cunningham
Nate Smith
Missed so many artists I wanted to see. yet, so much goodness for one day
SML with guests Jeff Parker and Mikel Patrick Avery at the Old Greyhound Station in Knoxville right now
#BigEars
With SML at the Old Greyhound Station in Knoxville a few minutes ago
#BigEars
A moodily-lit stage with a pianist, bassist, drummer, and a divine bald Black woman named Cecile McLorin Salvant, who is quite literally the greatest living jazz singer. Also, her style is impeccable. She’s wearing a crepey flowy black tunic kimono thing over a VIVID scarlet underlayer. And Vibram V-Soul five-toe sandals.
The rule that is consistently proved Every Single Time: If Cecile McLorin Salvant is playing near you, you go. #BigEars
with Fred Frith, Simon Hanes, Max Jaffee, Jordan Glenn, and special guest Nora Stanley on sax at Jackson Terminal in Knoxville earlier today.
#BigEars
A wide-angle photo looking into a high-ceilinged space, with a lighting truss in the middle of it. The walls and ceiling feature multicolored splotches from a projection system. There are a lot of people’s backs visible — they are all facing an unseen stage. To the left of the frame, in the extreme foreground, there is a white wall heavily lit with blue light. It has a vertical red “Fire Extinguisher” sticker on it. Immediately below the sticker is the metal hook where the fire extinguisher would have been.
#BigEars is, generally speaking, the most well-run festival I have ever attended.
Which is why the unventilated former Greyhound station, apparently with side rooms that are off limits due to major sketch and mold, is such an odd anomaly.
Marquis Hill Blacktet at the Point in Knoxville right now
#BigEars
At #BigEars today, I’ve seen both Bloodlines Interwoven and Saul Williams (like holy shit truly) and both are sticking with me.
with the delightful @gweniferraymond.bsky.social at Barleys in Knoxville, TN earlier today
#BigEars
Second half of day two of #BigEars: Couldn’t get a full look at Jeremiah Chu’s #eurorack cases, but there were definitely a #MakeNoise Mimeophon and Morphagene in there. Anyone into improvised music and synth shit should check out this SML album, to get a sense of what can happen when one member […]
Robert Plant's Nashville setlist features 80% non-Zeppelin material, marking a bold creative pivot for the legendary vocalist and Suzi Dian. #OngoingNow #RobertPlant #Nashville #MusicNews #BigEars
selfie in a big green field at the start of the parkrun course
me giving a thumbs up with three parkrun volunteers standing in front of a sign that reads “third creek greenway”
had a good time at the local #parkrun in knoxville. a really pretty course and super kind people. next year at #bigears we’ll have to do more recruiting;)
9:30am on day 3 of #BigEars and gotta show up to give love to music writers. John Schaefer in conversation with @natechinen.bsky.social, Grayson Haver Currin, and @annkpowers.bsky.social on how music writing is changing in the digital age.
