Big Ears Festival 2026, Knoxville, Tennessee, US, March 26 - 29, 2026

David Byrne

David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Tune-Yards, Robert Plant

Big Ears Festival 2026, Knoxville, Tennessee, US, March 26 - 29, 2026,

Apr 01, 2026 By Jessica Mlinaric Photography by Jessica Mlinaric Web Exclusive

While many festival lineups seem programmed by the TikTok algorithm and composed by AI, Big Ears Festival feels revolutionary. Big Ears assembles luminaries and emerging artists of jazz, avant-garde, ambient, rock, and folk for a four-day celebration of creativity in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“I begged to play this festival because everyone I love is playing here,” said Tune-Yards frontwoman Merrill Garbus. Founded in 2009, Big Ears Festival draws 35,000 music fans to nearly 250 performances, conversations, films, and workshops at venues around town. This year’s lineup featured headliners including David Byrne, Robert Plant, Laurie Anderson, Flying Lotus, and MJ Lenderman.

Throughout the festival, performances included a nod to the 100th anniversary of Miles Davis’s birth this year and the 75th anniversary of Arthur Russel’s birth. Ragamala, an immersive eight-hour presentation of South Asian classical music, was a “festival within a festival.” Iconic saxophonist John Zorn wasn’t hard to find, making his mark on 12 sets across the lineup.

Big Ears is the kind of festival where you can stand watching a show with Thurston Moore or see David Byrne riding his bicycle through town. Its best moments are spontaneous, like popping into a former 1880s railroad terminal to hear YAGÓDY’s contemporary take on Ukrainian folk music or seeing folks cross-legged on the floor blissing out to Sō Percussion’s rendition of Steve Reich’s Drumming. At Pretentious Glass Co., sculptor Matthew Cummings demonstrated glassblowing to the live improvisation of Shahzad Ismaily, Patrick Shiroishi, Max Jaffe, and Dave Harrington, as each performance shaped the other.

I can’t think of another festival where you’ll hear both Sam Amidon and Robert Plant with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian cover the nineteenth-century Scottish folk song, “As I Roved Out.” Or catch LA jazz quintet SML performing in the round in a former Greyhound terminal one night and then witness Flying Lotus’s psychedelic beats command the dance floor the next night. Collaboration, craft, and connection reign at Big Ears Festival. As Laurie Anderson said to close out her show on Sunday night, “Big Ears is the best festival ever.”