The 2024 edition of Knoxville’s Big Ears festival wrapped up on Sunday, and after two very big days, it was definitely more chilled-out and relaxed, but still loaded with great performances.
Highlights included: André 3000 brought out fellow flautist Shabaka for the fifth and final ‘Blue Sun Live’ shows at the fest, which happened at beautiful church The Point; Evan Lurie led a partial reunion of his Quintet with Bandoneon (including guitarist Marc Ribot) for their first since the ’90s; Thurston Moore teamed up with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones for a improvised set of noisy weirdness; guitarist Julian Lage played two sets at the Tennessee Theatre (one with Joe Henry, the other with The Speak to Me Band); Jon Batiste brought his colorful, crowd-pleasing style to Knoxville Civic Auditorium; Malian singer/guitarist Fatoumata Diawara wowed at an early set at The Mill & Mine; and the fest closed out with a jammy, collaborative set from John Medeski, Joe Russo and Marc Ribot that had the crowd screaming for more.
Other Sunday performances: Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens, Laraaji & Suphala, Samora Pinderhughes, Finom, billy woods, Trevor Dunn’s Ahleuchatistas, Henry Threadgill’s Air, JG Thirlwell, and more.
Check out photos from Sunday at Big Ears in this post and there are recaps and pics from the first three days here.
