Shaky Knees started ten years ago when founder Tim Sweetwood noticed the absence of a proper indie music festival in the Atlanta area. It’s no surprise that it sold out its 9,000-person capacity its first year. What is a surprise is that it took ten years for the festival to sell out again. Over the past decade it has expanded to four stages, quadrupled capacity and gained a reputation as a fan-centric festival. For its tenth anniversary, Shaky Knees decided to really go big. With The Killers and Muse as the headliners for the first two days, the festival was bound to sell out but neither the fans nor the festival counted on how quickly that would happen.
As the gates opened on Friday, so did the sky. A light rain began to fall and didn’t let up for hours. This did little to dampen the spirits of those anxious to catch the slew of phenomenal acts slated for Friday. Shaky veterans were the first to notice the biggest change this year as they entered festival. The Ponce de Leon stage that was previously a smaller covered stage had been moved way back and had been been left uncovered. The move back allowed for a larger capacity and larger acts to utilize this stage.
The first to do it justice for the weekend was Digable Planets. The NYC underground hip-hop trio took to the stage with a live band to perform tracks from their debut album Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). The cult classic hip-hop album is celebrating thirty years and the jazz laden hip-hop tracks sounded timeless as Butterfly, Ladybug Mecca and Doodlebug took turns rapping to songs like “Where I’m From,” “It’s Good To Be Here” and “Nickle Bags” from their debut album as well as throwing in fan favorite “Graffiti” from their sophomore album Blowout Comb.
Not long after, one of the most anticipated performances, for many, took the Ponce stage by storm. Despite having a huge following over the decades, Placebo are rarely seen in the United States. With the release of their new album, Never Let Me Go, the elusive group scheduled a tour of the U.S. with a stop at Shaky Knees. Opening the set with “Forever Chemicals” and “Beautiful James” from the new album, the vibe in the crowd was electric. Though only having an hour slot, Placebo played many fan favorites like “The Bitter End” and “Song to Say Goodbye,” which had fans singing along as well as a few tears of joy. Closing out the set with covers of “Shout” by Tears For Fears and their excellent version of “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush left those in attendance leaving on a musical high.
Merrill Nisker, better known as Peaches brought her energetic and engaging performance to the Criminal Records stage on Friday. Initially taking the stage in a five-breasted costume, Peaches ran through multiple costume changes, mostly topless while her two backup dancers did the same. Her sexually charged performances of songs like “Pussy Mask” and “Boys Wanna Be Her” had the crowd dancing and singing along throughout. Upon closing the set with her hit “Fuck The Pain Away” the crowd was left wishing for a longer set.
One of the most anticipated sets of the day left some fans disappointed. Not because of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ performance, which was excellent. But, because of the apparent sound issues at the Piedmont stage. Fans were ecstatic as Karen O and company played hits like “Cheated Hearts,” “Maps,” and “Heads Will Roll” and were singing along, but the sound from the stage didn’t hold up even halfway through the crowd. Though the sound issues persisted, the fans didn’t let that stop themselves from having a great time and enjoying fan favorites like “Gold Lion” and “Y Control.”
Just minutes after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs finished, The Killers started up their set with their hit “Mr. Brightside” to one of the biggest crowds the festival had seen to date. Tens of thousands of fans sang along to other hits like “Somebody Told Me” and “All These Things That I’ve Done” as well as a slew of songs spanning their career. Due to a bit of mismanaged time on the part of the band, the sound was cut during their closing number “When You Were Young,” but those in attendance helped them finish by singing the rest of song as the band finished without sound.
Saturday had the best weather a festival attendee could hope for, relatively warm with cloud cover throughout. The vibes were high and the day gave fans a huge dose of nostalgia starting with Joey Valence & Brae. Though the hip-hop duo are brand new to the music scene, they are to the Beastie Boys what Greta Van Fleet are to Led Zeppelin. Bringing their energetic performance to the Ponce stage, their use of 90s style beats and lyrics had the audience in the palm of their hands. Rapping to their songs “Watch Yo Step” and “Startafight,” it was evident that the duo was having the time of their life and feeding off the audience’s energy. Despite having not even released a full album, those in attendance were familiar with their songs and sang along and were excited for the new songs performed like “Gumdrop.”
The crowd at 311 was massive and for a good reason as they know how to put on a show. Opening with the hits “Beautiful Disaster” and “All Mixed Up,” it was evident from the start that the band still sounds tight and the vocal ranges haven’t changed with age. Their set was full of hits like “Come Original,” “Amber” and their cover of “Lovesong” by The Cure. Halfway through “Applied Science” saw a drum solo started by drummer Chad Sexton before being joined by the entire band playing percussion in a drum line style. 311 kept the energy up all the way through before closing with their massive hit “Down.”
It’s no surprise that the standout performance of Saturday came from Tenacious D. With the comedy prowess of Jack Black coupled with bandmate Kyle Gass the crowd was pumped up. Despite the ever present sound issues from the Peidmont stage, Tenacious D put on a performance that fans won’t soon forget. Between planned skits, jokes and songs like “The Metal” and “Roadie” Black and Gass had the audience both singing and laughing along. The duo also debuted brand new material in the songs “Video Games” and “The Spicy Meatball Song” before closing with the singalong hit “Fuck Her Gently.”
Muse showed the crowd why they deserved to be the headliner for Saturday, opening the show with “Will of People” before launching into “Hysteria.” The crowd was huge and the production was even bigger, as is to be expected from the English rockers. A massive figure took up a larger portion of the stage and pyrotechnics was ubiquitous as the band performed a slew of hits like “Time Is Running Out,” “Madness” and “Supermassive Black Hole.” Fans were ecstatic as the band closed the main set with “Starlight” and returned to encore with “Kill or Be Killed” and “Knights of Cydonia.”
Sunday saw the sun come out in full force and also saw smaller crowds either due to festival fatigue or maybe because many just wanted to attend for The Killers and/or Muse. Those that didn’t show up on Sunday missed out on some excellent performances. Due to visa issues, Australian psych rockers Pond were unable to play at the last minute which led to many people heading over to see 90’s alt rockers Live perform on the Piedmont stage. Though being the only original member, Ed Kowalczyk’s vocals cannot be replicated and sounded great as they opened with “Selling the Drama” and “All Over You” from their breakthrough album Throwing Copper. Though the sound at the Piedmont stage wasn’t great, the crowed sang along to hits like “Lightning Crashes,” “I Alone” and “The Dolphin’s Cry.” The band was smart and kept the entire set to their 90s output from the albums Secret Samadhi, The Distance to Here and Throwing Copper.
Austin psych rock royalty The Black Angles brought their heavy psychedelic sounds to the Ponce stage Sunday afternoon. Though the mix of Alex Mass’ vocals were a bit overpowered by the instrumentation, they still put on a riveting show featuring many songs from their new album Wilderness of Mirrors. “Without a Trace” and “El Jardin” were welcome new additions to their live set and “Black Grease,” “You on the Run” and “Young Man Dead” had the crowd vibing and swaying along to music.
The biggest conflict of the weekend was between The Flaming Lips performing Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and the newly reunited NYC band The Walkmen. The Flaming Lips put on their signature high energy show, but due to the sound issues at Piedmont and the fact that it was still light out, their light show wasn’t as enjoyable, meaning the few hundred people that decided to attend The Walkmen definitely got the better show. Probably due to most people wanting to see The Flaming Lips, the crowd at The Walkmen was pretty small but gave the impression that the “cool kids” knew where the good music was going to be. After a ten year break, The Walkmen have reunited and put on a show that was full of energy. It seemed everyone in attendance was singing along to “The Rat” and songs like “Juveniles” and “Thinking of a Dream I Had” captured everyone’s attention.
The Lumineers had been one of the headliners at the very first iteration of Shaky Knees and since they are currently on the festival circuit to promote their new album, “BRIGHTSIDE” they became the Sunday night headliner to tie in the tenth anniversary. Their singalong vibe was a greaway t to close out the festival as many were tired and just wanted a band to chill too.
Overall, many of the improvements that Shaky Knees has made have had a positive effect on the festival. Though there was only one entrance this year, there was rarely a wait more than a few minutes to get through security. There seemed to rarely be a wait for the restrooms either and they were spotless at the beginning of each day. They need to make further improvements on sound on the Piedmont stage, as it’s one of the main stages and probably need to scale back on attendance to enhance the fan experience. Maybe it’s just that the secret is out and this is the new normal for the festival. However, it is still miles better than most festivals these days and one that I would still recommend to anyone.
All photos used courtesy of Shaky Knees
