Low, and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood among others. The 2015 edition featured Kronos Quartet, Laurie Anderson, Swans, Ben Frost, William Tyler, Max Richter, Silver Apples, Steve Gunn, Grouper, Nels Cline, Zs, Omar Souleyman, among others. The 2016 edition featured Kamasi Washington, Angel Olsen, Andrew Bird, Laurie Anderson with Philip Glass, Marc Ribot, Faust, Yo La Tengo, Lambchop, Sunn O))) and many others. All festivals since 2020 went on hiatus to help contain the spread of the virus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reviews Ben Ratliff, writing for The New York Times in 2009: "You could say that Big Ears was for people who like hearing nuanced music in excellent theaters, in a city with no hassle: a place where you can walk down the main drag on Saturday night and see 10 feet of empty space between you and the next pair of feet. You could also say that Big Ears was for people with long attention spans, good concentration and an appetite for letting repetitive non-dance music wash over them. And at least in its first edition — Mr. Capps intends to repeat Big Ears in Knoxville, and also export the idea to other cities — Big Ears was for concertgoers who appreciate not hearing a lot of introductions and context and sponsor announcements before the music even starts. In other words, at times it was heaven." In 2010 the festival was praised by Rolling Stone as "arguably the classiest, most diverse festival in the country." After an extremely successful return of the festival in 2014, Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone wrote that "Big Ears 2014 is the most ambitious avant-garde festival to emerge in America in more than a decade." Notes Eclecticism is music to Big Ears, Los Angeles Times, 2010 Report: Big Ears Festival Pitchfork, 2010 9 Best Moments of the Big Ears Festival Spin, 2010 CoS at Big Ears Festival 2010, Consequence of Sound, 2010 Report: Big Ears Festival Pitchfork, 2009 External links Official Big Ears Festival Website Culture of Knoxville, Tennessee Music festivals in Tennessee Tourist attractions in Knoxville, Tennessee 2009 establishments in Tennessee