Shaky Knees Festival: a gathering of the best indie artists in the world, and no surprise here, probably not the usually scheduled EDM coverage brought to you by the ravers and rafters of this site. Usually living in a land where bass and elevated BPMs reign supreme, I’ll admit that stepping out of my comfort zone was a bit of a challenge. However, intrigued by the opportunity to introduce new musical discoveries to the WRR family, I shook those knees and dove headfirst into this whole new world, open-minded and eager to unearth a few new favorite bands.
Tucked into a little nest of Atlanta between Old Fourth Ward and Midtown, Central Park was a picturesque location for the event. Nostalgia set in at times with the Piedmont Stage sitting on what was usually a football field, and a baseball field transformed into the main Peachtree Stage. The layout was a bit confusing at first, feeling at times like you might end up in someone’s backyard or walk into an unsuspecting apartment. It was nothing a couple laps around the grounds couldn’t fix, and by day two the festival felt more like a friendly neighborhood block party.
It was a refreshing that the headliners at Shaky Knees were not your run of the mill acts you’ll be able to catch at next weekend’s fest, but instead world renown artists that were pretty stunning to witness live. Atlanta will be talking about that faithful weekend when The Strokes, The Avett Brothers, and Tame Impala played as the soundtrack to the city lights for a long time.
Friday’s highlights kicked off with a familiar favorite in TV on the Radio. There’s something about their energy and ability to move a crowd that continues to impress upon each tallied live show. With the most surprising experience of the weekend, I found myself very uncharacteristically getting down to Mastodon. The only real explanation for my sudden fit of heavy metal enjoyment had to have been because it was what Bassnectar would have wanted.
Speaking of the king of the sound, next up was the Pixies, with my familiarity of the band ending with the Basshead’s famous edit of “Where is My Mind.” Knowing very well that you love to hate that person who only knows the band’s one hit song, we shamelessly sang along, promising to show some slack to the noob at Bonnaroo that couldn’t spit every word of “Freestyle.”
You didn’t have to be a diehard fan to realize how legendary it was to see The Strokes live. The band sounded as good if not better than recordings from their prime, delivering an incredible performance to a very deserving crowd. Some fans even camped out for nine hours just to be front from center for the excitement, and the determination most certainly paid off.
Day two began with an enjoyable sit down with the guys of Milky Chance, who’s set turned out to be one of my favorite of the weekend. So good that we had to hit up their late show at Center Stage for round two.
Flogging Molly was the perfect mid-afternoon pick me up to get the crowd who was baking in the Hotlanta sun back on their feet, and history was made when Neutral Milk Hotel played one of their last shows in the foreseeable future. The day closed out with the Avett Brothers, and what I had expected to be a relatively reserved act. One head-banging cellist, and rap verse of “Talk On Indolence” in reservations were punted aside. I had found my new favorite band.
Rounding into the final day and Tame Impala within reach, I took the day to detach myself from the schedule and wander to whatever stages the day led me to. One of which was the famed Ryan Adams. Perhaps it was his speed-paced song intros and confusing one liners that rubbed the wrong way, but I just didn’t get it. (Dodges stones and hate emails) Finally Tame Impala blissfully closed out Shaky Knees 2015, with their unique psychedelic rock that set a trance-like state over Central Park. Their new synth-tastic track, “Let It Happen,” off the band’s forthcoming third album Currents pleasantly kicked off the set, with their massive hit “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” strategically placed to round out the set.
General consensus of the whole adventure? More of us should tap into genres that we might not initially gravitate towards. What we all need is to step out of the box every now and then to gain better understanding and appreciation of our genre siblings, and Shaky Knees could not have been better testing waters. It will be exciting to watch this young fest continue to blossom into the mega event that it could easily embody in the next few years.
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Photo Cred: aLIVE coverage
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