Atlanta’s Shaky Festival family gained a rowdy sibling when Centennial Olympic Park hosted the first ever Shaky Beats this May. In just three years Tim Sweetwood’s original two-day, indie-rock festival, Shaky Knees, has grown into quite the empire, adding a third day and expanding with country and electronic music counterparts, Shaky Boots and Beats respectively.
The grounds were condensed from five stages used for the previous weekend’s Shaky Knees crowd, down to three all named for famous streets in Atlanta – Peachtree, Piedmont, and Ponce de Leon. This ode to the city became a reoccurring theme as the weekend progressed. It was more than just the city skyline wrapping around the festival or the spontaneous outbursts of the “ATL Hoe” chant coming from the mosh pits though. Headliners went out of their way to embrace the culture of this music capital of the south. From ODESZA featuring the Atlanta Falcons drum line for a tearjerking rendition of “I Play You Listen” live to Outkast’s Big Boi joining Big Gigantic to close out the festival…Shaky Beats bled with pride for it’s host city.
Jai Wolf kicked off a rainy Friday afternoon on the main stage, hitting the modestly-sized crowd right in the feels dropping his “With You” remix early on. Ever since his late night set on the Kalliope stage at Bonnaroo last year we’ve been itching for more Jai Wolf, and sure enough our boy did not disappoint.
The first day’s artists, AlunaGeorge, ZHU, and Duke Dumont, were all incredible of course, but where we what we were really surprised by…and hear me out…was Major Lazer’s performance. It was a real grown-up production light years away from Diplo in a hamster ball and riling up all the ladies in the crowd to lose their shirts. They even scheduled a quick wardrobe change into Atlanta Hawks jerseys. Yes, there was still plenty of twerking. You could probably also say the increased production value has a bit to do with the moombaton, Mad Decent version of Major Lazer giving way to appeal to a larger top 40 crowd. But even at the depths of my soul that only wants to only assign praise to artists playing ambient breakbeats with hints of nu-age downtempo, I can’t help but admit…it was a pretty dope set.
As we moved into day two, STRFKR, one of the only live bands playing the festival, impressed a packed out main stage. The STRFKR spacemen even made an appearance. Perhaps a nod to their ATLien audience? Marshmello showed the ATL plenty of love as well, bringing out Atlanta rapper, Waka Flocka Flame, as his special guest.
The Ponce Stage acted as a bit of an island of misfit toys, haven for all seeking a more intimate setting to their Shaky Beats experience. Less enthused by the Marshmello phenomena then the rest of the general public, we stumbled across a killer set by The M Machine we wish would have went longer than it’s mere 45 minutes of allotted set time. With Trippy Turtle on deck, we had to peel ourselves away from our Ponce Stage sanctuary just in time for the always entertaining, Porter Robinson.
Now ODESZA, is pretty magical in any setting. It’s hard to listen to their music alone in the car even and not get a chill bump. We weren’t sure it could get much better than their Hulaween set last year, packed into the Suwannee amphitheater, but sure enough Harrison and Clayton brought raised the bar once again closing out the main stage on Saturday. It was truly a breathtaking moment when they brought the Atlanta Falcons drumline out, paired with a horn section and pyrotechnics during “I Play You Listen.” They created easily one of the top most blissful festival moments you could ever imagine, and one we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Day three was heavily geared towards a more hip-hop loving audience, with A$AP Ferg and NAS and headlining the main stage. We found ourselves once again glued to the Ponce Stage atmosphere where local artists Treasure Fingers and HXV threw down everything from nu disco to filthy dubstep and everything in between.
As Sunday came to a close Big Gigantic hit the Peachtree Stage, rocking their traditional all-white uniforms and bringing the high-energy, charismatic set we’ve grown to love from the duo. Little did we know, Dom and Jeremy were about to lay down one of their most brilliant collaborations to date…Big Boi Gigantic. If you want to hype up an Atlanta crow, look no further than inviting a member of Outkast on stage. Big Boi joined them for very special renditions of his original track, “Shutterbug” and Outkast’s classic “The Way You Move,” helping wrap a very successful inaugural year of the festival in true ATL fashion.
Atlanta has become home to a number of festivals that keep the city ignited, and a destination for music lovers across the south. Joining the likes of Imagine Festival, Sweetwater 420 Fest, Music Midtown, and it’s sister Shaky festivals, Shaky Beats has distinguished itself as a well run event overflowing with the best of vibes that we hope will continue to grow and return to Centennial Olympic Park for years to come.
Connect with Shaky Beats:
http://www.shakybeatsfestival.com/
https://www.facebook.com/shakybeats/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/shakybeats
Photos Cred: aLIVE Coverage
Share On
