Big Ears concerts and events take place in over a dozen venues, with capacities that range from 80 to 2,500 people. Admission to each event is on a first come, first serve basis – subject to the legal capacity of the venue.

All weekend passes include:

• Over 100 concerts and performances in 12 venues over 4 days

• Admission to all official film screenings and literary events during the festival

• Entrance to all official talks, panel discussions, exhibitions, and workshops

Premier pass holders will receive everything offered to General Admission passholders and more!

Premier patrons are offered priority admission to all venues. After VIP pass holders are given access to the venue, Premier pass holders will be granted access prior to General Admission patrons.

In addition, Premier pass holders will receive an exclusive invitation to the festival’s opening reception.

Venues with Priority Access:

• Knoxville Civic Auditorium
• Tennessee Theatre
• Bijou Theatre
• First Baptist Church
• St. John’s Cathedral
• The Mill & Mine
• The Standard
• Old City Performing Arts Center

Sonic Explorer VIP pass holders will receive everything offered to General Admission and Premier passholders and more!

Where available, Sonic Explorer VIP pass holders will enjoy and dedicated line or entrance and are granted entry to performance venues prior to Premier and General Admission pass holders.

In addition, Sonic Explorer VIP patrons will also enjoy a reserved, VIP-only seating section (where available). This section will be held until 10 minutes before show time when the section will be opened to all patrons to ensure maximum attendance and venue capacity as well as to ensure sections do not remain empty during an artist’s performance.

Along with preferred entry and seating, VIP patrons will enjoy an exclusive, VIP-only “Secret Show” and invitations to other special, behind the scenes events throughout the four day festival weekend.

Venues with Dedicated VIP Line / Entrance or Priority Access
• Knoxville Civic Auditorium
• Tennessee Theatre
• Bijou Theatre
• First Baptist Church
• St. John’s Cathedral
• The Mill & Mine
• The Standard
• Old City Performing Arts Center

Venues with Reserved, VIP Seating:
• Knoxville Civic Auditorium
• Tennessee Theatre
• Bijou Theatre
• First Baptist Church
• St. John’s Cathedral
• The Mill & Mine
• The Standard

In celebration of Big Ears’ 10th anniversary, we are offering patrons the opportunity to purchase a limited edition laminate credential and lanyard. The laminate will include Big Ears 10th Anniversary branding on the front along with the festival’s lineup on the back. To take advantage of this special, limited offering, select the pass option with “Collectible Credential” when purchasing your passes on the Front Gate ticketing site. Your laminate credential will be waiting for you with your wristbands at the festival box office.

Pass tiers or price levels, including “Early Bird,” are simply a way to encourage patrons to purchase their passes early and save money. There is no difference in offerings or benefits of different tiers or price levels for each pass type.

All festival attendees will pick up their wristband passes at the Big Ears Festival headquarters, located at the Jackson Avenue Terminal (213 W. Jackson Ave, Knoxville, TN 37902).

Patrons will need to show receipt or proof of purchase from Front Gate Tickets (the festival’s ticketing vendor) along with a valid photo ID. No one will be permitted to enter any Big Ears venues or ticketed events without first completing this process and securing a wristband.

Passes are required for patrons ages 2 and older. Big Ears does not offer tickets to individual shows during the festival weekend.

On the checkout page, you have the option to purchase your full order at that time or you can purchase using a “layaway plan.” The layaway plan is available for all orders including at least (1) weekend pass. Purchaser must agree to the Layaway Plan Terms and Conditions, including a default policy.

A deposit upon purchase will serve to secure your ticket(s). All subsequent payments will be automatically charged to the credit card used for the initial purchase. Your ticket(s) will not be mailed to you until you have made your last payment.

IMPORTANT: If, for any reason, any of your payments are declined, in whole or in part, then all of the following will apply: (i) your order and your tickets will be cancelled (ii) any payment received as of that date will be kept by Big Ears as partial offset for your default, (iii) you will still owe the balance of the full amount due for each ticket and you authorize Front Gate and Big Ears to charge your credit card for any balance due, (iv) Front Gate and Big Ears will be entitled to pursue all of their legal and equitable remedies to recover the full payment from you, and (v) you agree to pay all costs of collection incurred by Front Gate or Big Ears, including legal fees, that they may incur in collecting the balance of each ticket price. Layaway plan tickets are subject to all of the other terms of the ticketing agreement.

Please reach out to Frontgate’s customer service if you have questions regarding the layaway plan.

Payment Schedule Breakdown:

When purchasing between Sep. 12 through Oct. 14:
• Deposit – 16% + 16% of service fees upon purchase
• Payment 1 – 21% + 21% of service fees due October 28th
• Payment 2 – 21% + 21% of service fees due November 18th
• Payment 3 – 21% + 21% of service fees due December 9th
• Payment 4 (Final) – 21% + 21% of service fees due December 30th

When purchasing between Oct. 15 through Nov. 11:
• Deposit – 16% + 16% of service fees upon purchase
• Payment 1 – 21% + 21% of service fees due November 25th
• Payment 2 – 21% + 21% of service fees due December 16th
• Payment 3 – 21% + 21% of service fees due January 6th
• Payment 4 (Final) – 21% + 21% of service fees due January 27th

When purchasing between Nov. 12 through Dec. 2:
• Deposit – 16% + 16% of service fees upon purchase
• Payment 1 – 21% + 21% of service fees due December 16th
• Payment 2 – 21% + 21% of service fees due January 6th
• Payment 3 – 21% + 21% of service fees due January 27^th
• Payment 4 (Final) – 21% + 21% of service fees due February 17^th

When purchasing between Dec. 3 through Dec. 23:
• Deposit – 16% + 16% of service fees upon purchase
• Payment 1 – 28% + 28% of service fees due January 13th
• Payment 2 – 28% + 28% of service fees due February 3rd
• Payment 3( Final) – 28% + 28% of service fees due February 24th

When purchasing between Dec. 24 through January 13:
• Deposit – 16% + 16% of service fees upon purchase (plus layaway fee $10)
• Payment 1 – 42% + 42% of service fees due February 3rd
• Payment 2(Final) – 42% + 42% of service fees due February 24th

All sales are final and no refunds will be offered. If you have purchased a pass and are unable to attend, you can sell your pass to another verified fan using Big Ears’ official ticket exchange, LYTE.

Tickets are non-transferable and the festival will not honor tickets or wristbands purchased from a third party. Only wristbands purchased through the Big Ears Festival website and it’s official ticketing provider, Front Gate Tickets, or via the festival’s official ticket exchange, Lyte, are guaranteed to be authentic. If you want 100% confidence in your ticket purchase, you should only purchase your tickets through the links on our tickets page.

Big Ears box office will verify that only those who purchased tickets are able to claim them at the festival box office.

Big Ears is not responsible for any counterfeit tickets or wristbands purchased via an unverified or unofficial third party.

For you own protection, please do not purchase passes from any source other than bigearsfestival.org, Front Gate Tickets, or the Lyte ticketing exchange platform.

Removing a wristband automatically voids it (unless by accident or for safety reasons, in which case you will need to get a replacement wristband from the festival’s box office which will require you to prove your purchase information). Festival security will check every wristband to ensure it has not been removed or passed between multiple people.

The purpose of Lyte is to provide fans a safe way to request, return, and send tickets to sold-out events. Big Ears works directly with Lyte so that fans can safely return their tickets or purchase from another verified fan.

Upon requesting a ticket, patrons will be prompted to enter attendee and payment information. If a request is granted, patrons will be notified by LYTE and payment will automatically be drafted from the associated account. Patrons are not guaranteed to receive a ticket even if one is requested.

To return a ticket, Lyte will connect with and verify a patron’s existing Front Gate account via the email address associated with that account. After account verification, select the passes you wish to return. If a patron’s passes are sold to another fan, LYTE will deposit funds into the seller’s PayPal account 1 day after event completion. Passes offered for sale via LYTE are not guaranteed to be purchased by another fan.

Questions about our official fan-to-fan waitlist & exchange? Please visit http://support.lyte.com/ to submit your inquiry.

Big Ears does everything it can to keep ticket prices as low and affordable as possible while providing patrons and artists with the highest level festival experience. The following is a list of service fees included in your ticket purchase:
• Tennessee Theatre Preservation Fee ($3.00)
• Bijou Theatre Preservation Fee ($2.00)
• Knoxville Civic Auditorium Facility Fee ($2.00)
• Charity Donation ($2.00)
• Processing & Fulfillment ($4.00)
• Front Gate Fee ($4.15 Weekend / $3.65 Daily)
• Credit Card Processing (3% of total price)

At this time there are no national, state, or local mandates or requirements to provide a negative COVID-19 test result or proof of vaccination to attend events or large gatherings. Big Ears will continue to monitor the situation, consult with health professionals, and, if needed, reserves the right to enact policies and procedures to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of our patrons, if deemed necessaryt. Any changes in policy will be shared via our website, social media, and email newsletters.

• All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.

• All patrons will be required to pick up their festival wristband at the festival’s box office upon arriving at the event. Wristbands are not transferable once applied to a patron’s wrist.

• Patrons of all ages are welcome. Passes/tickets will be required for patrons ages 2 and older.

• All acts advertised have confirmed their appearance at Big Ears 2022; however, acts and performance times are subject to change without notice.

• Passes/tickets lost or stolen cannot be replaced.

• There is a limit of eight (8) General Admission or Premier passes and four (4) VIP passes per order.

• Management reserves the right, without the refund of any portion of the pass/ticket purchase price, to refuse admission or to eject any person who fails to comply with the rules of the venues, local, state or federal law, or whose conduct is deemed illegal, disorderly, or offensive by management.

• Persons entering the venues are subject to search for contraband, unauthorized merchandise, alcohol, controlled substances, weapons, firearms, fireworks, cameras, video equipment, or recording devices, which are expressly forbidden.  Any persons found attempting to enter the venues with forbidden item(s) will be refused access, or, at venue’s discretion, allowed to give up the forbidden item(s). Confiscated items will be destroyed or disposed of at venue’s discretion.

• Pass/Ticket/Wristband user assumes all risks of personal injury incidental to the event, whether occurring prior to, during, or subsequent to the event.

• The resale or attempted resale of passes/tickets/wristbands at a price higher than that appearing on the face of the pass/ticket is prohibited and if discovered will result in the ticket being voided without refund.

• The sale of unauthorized merchandise is not permitted.  Purchaser agrees he/she may be ejected from the event if found selling unauthorized merchandise.

• Passes/tickets/wristbands may not be used for advertising, promotion (including contests and sweepstakes), or other trade purposes without the express written consent of Big Ears.

• Pass/ticket/wristband user consents to Big Ears and its affiliates’ use of his/her image or likeness incidental to any video display, transmission, recording, and/or other content captured at the event.

Big Ears has partnered with Front Gate Tickets as it’s official ticketing provider. For any questions regarding your Front Gate order, please contact them here.

Big Ears has partnered with LYTE as its official ticketing resale partner. For any questions regarding LYTE or your LYTE order, please contact them here.

For any general questions about Big Ears ticketing or the festival, please contact us here.