Let’s talk about the Pilot Light.
(Full disclosure: I am a board member of the Pilot Light Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit. As Moor Mother pointed out at the start of her set, Knoxville’s a small town.)
The Old City club, which will hit its 20th(!) anniversary next year, has hosted a mind-boggling number of acts in its time, many if not most that are right at home in the Big Ears universe, with many festival alumni having performed there before they were later booked for the big show. It’s a natural venue for the festival, along with Big Ears stalwarts the Tennessee Theatre, Bijou, and KMA, a venue for the original festival in 2009.
One thing that has made the venue unique the past few year is that all of its shows have been free during the festival, allowing locals who are disinterested in the festival, or can’t afford to attend, a chance to participate. It’s not a huge place, so as you might imagine it gets crowded pretty quickly. Even if the shows weren’t free, wristband-sporters would surely pack it for scheduled sets by the likes of Tyler Damon/Tashi Dorji duo and Tatsuya Nakatani, and secret shows from The Comet is Coming and Evan Parker/Ned Rothenberg. I didn’t make it to Comet’s 12:30 a.m. gig there, but having seen the energy and rambunctiousness of the capacity crowd at their Mill and Mine show, I imagine their Pilot Light show was memorable. Word is there was a mosh pit.
Another great thing about Pilot Light as a festival venue is that it allows out-of-towners to hear a variety of local talent. At Thursday night’s Earwig Deluxe show, the crowd was audibly amused and bewildered by the Oak Ridge native’s performance, whose deconstructed one-man cabaret act was as original as anything I’ve witnessed so far this year, outside of Lucy Negro Redux. The construction and delivery of the songs were raw and rickety, sure, but I’m not entirely sure they weren’t meant to be. It can get pretty chatty in the back of venues, which is annoying, but it was interesting to hear the comments about Earwig. Attendees attempted to figure out in real-time what they were witnessing, and seemed stimulated and pleased to have that opportunity.
I’ve only made it to two shows at Pilot Light so far, though I wanted to attend a few others. But the great and/or terrible thing (depending on where you stand on these matters) about the free and open to the public policy there is that wristbands are not privileged, not even those that are VIP or Premiere. We all stand before the Pilot Light as equals. When it’s one-in-one-out time, doorman Brad Fowler wouldn’t even let Will Fist back in. Will. Fist.
All reports coming from the venue have been uniformly great, though. The lineup, primarily programmed by Pilot Light founder Jason Boardman, is inspired and varied, and most people seem to enjoy seeing these acts in what reads at first encounter as a dingy rock and roll bar. (Though it is, of course, far more than that.) And while some have been put off by the venue’s size, one person’s uncomfortably crowded listening experience is another’s intimate setting.
Saturday night sees two of Knoxville’s more interesting rock bands, White Gregg and Caps, perform at Pilot Light, and as Sons of Kemet and the 12-Hour Drone are the only other performances happening at that time, chances are both bands will have a lot of visiting eyes and ears on them.
It’s also worth pointing out that Boyd’s Jig and Reel hosted a number of free shows and panels over the weekend, including two of my favorite surprises of the festival, the Out Explorations of Traditional Tunes, and the first time improv meeting between South African guitarist Derek Gripper and Moroccan guembri player Mehdi Nassouli. But I went more in-depth on Pilot Light because it and Boardman have been part of the festival from the beginning, and their sole purpose is hosting live music and other performances, and it hosted many more shows over the weekend.
