“Big Ears offers an avalanche of such potential connections. As with all live music, any
moment that rises past the level of perfunctory performance relies on the musicians, the
audience, and the gods of inspiration. It’s unpredictable and you hope to catch lightning
a few times, at best over the course of a day’s long festival. Whether magic arrives in
the form of a quiet spark of recognition of our own struggles in an artist’s lyrics, ecstasy
induced by sparks flying from a virtuosic riff on a saxophone, or a bombastic burst of joy
from the stunning combination of all the elements of an ensemble coming together in a
torrent, the experience is deeply personal.”
