Big Ears Preview (Part 6)

To assist those who are thinking about buying single-day tickets, the Big Ears festival has begun announcing single-day lineups (but not set times). Today, they announced the acts for Thursday, the first day of the festival. Additional daily announcements are anticipated in the coming days.

It's no exaggeration to say that half the artists I want to see are playing on Thursday. Given that it's the first day of the festival, the performances don't start until 6:00 or 7:00 pm. It's hard to see more than three sets on Thursday - four if you're both ambitious and lucky - so I sincerely hope that most of these artists perform second or even third sets during the following days. I know that Henry Threadgill and Fred Frith are. I understand that Secret Chiefs 3 will be performing again as Ishraqiyun. a sort of alternate line-up side project.  Don't know about the rest.

Post-punk mavericks Unwound are currently touring North America and passing through Knoxville in March. I doubt their busy touring schedule will allow them the time to linger extra days at the festival.

If I have to limit myself to only three sets on Thursday, it would probably be Unwound, Angelic Brothers (John Medeski and Kirk Knuffke's Sun Ra tribute project), and, as scheduling allows, either Secret Chiefs 3 or Henry Threadgill, whose Very Very Circus ensemble - which includes two tubas and two electric guitars in the lineup - is perfoming.