Big Ears Festival Shares 2025 Daily Lineups, Adds Musical Guests

Big Ears has announced the daily lineups and added guests for its 2025 staging. The annual event will take place between March 27 and 30, 2025, with over 200 concerts across Knoxville, Tenn., in more than 14 acclaimed venues. Along with the daily schedules, Big Ears also announced additional acts, including DARKSIDE, Charles Lloyd’s Sangam (which features Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland), the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and more.

To kick the event off on Thursday, March 27, multi-instrumentalist Béla Fleck, Yo La Tengo and more are set to perform. Headlining acts like Beth Gibbons, Charles Lloyd: Sangram, DARKSIDE, Steve Roach and Tortoise will lead the bill, with performances from Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sanchez Trio, Kate Soper & Wet Ink Ensemble also included. In addition to the band’s solo staging on Thursday, Yo La Tengo will perform with Sun Ra Arkestra the following day.

On Friday, March 28, Taj Mahal and Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz are among the day’s headlining acts, along with ANOHNI and the Johnsons, esperanza spalding, Bill Frisell, Sun Ra Arkestra & Yo La Tengo, Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion, Jessica Pratt, The Philip Glass Ensemble, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Nels Cline Singers and more. Additional Friday performers include Kelly Moran, Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn, and Cassandra Jenkins.

Saturday’s acts include Waxahatchee, Julian Baker & TORRES, and Arooj Aftab, along with Lankum and Dakhabrakha. Sun Ra Arkestra wil play again, along with Vijay Iyer, Helado Negro, and many more. To wrap up the four-day event, Sunday’s proceedings include a headlining performance from Rufus Wainwright, along with stagings from Explosions In The Sky, Anoushka Shankar, Fieldwork, Tindersticks and Laraaji. 

As of the latest announcement, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will also perform a special program, including Rhapsody in Blue, Reimagined with pianist Lara Downes. This billing concludes the list of eight landmark special programs set to take place throughout the festival, which include a 50th-anniversary celebration of Philip Glass’ Music in 12 Parts, Michael Rother’s The Music of NEU! & Harmonia and Jonny Greenwood’s 133 Years of Reverb. 

For tickets and more information, go to https://bigearsfestival.org/. See the festival’s post below via Instagram.