Shaky Knees Review

This past weekend, I attended the annual music festival “Shaky Knees.” The festival lasts the whole weekend, with concerts stretching from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. The festival hosts smaller artists, playing earlier in the day and gradually gets more popular as the day goes on. The headliners were The Killers, Muse, and The Lumineers. 

On Friday, I arrived at 5:30pm with my mom, just in time to see Grouplove, an alternative rock band. We had seen the group years prior and were sorely unimpressed with their live performance even though we enjoyed their studio music. As this was years ago, I expected them to have improved, but I was disappointed again. They were unorganized and didn’t seem to sing at the same tempo. They seemed to constantly be out of breath, implying they had never performed live before. Next, we saw Greta Van Fleet, a heavily Led Zeppelin-influenced rock band. As Led Zeppelin fans, this was definitely a performance worth attending. At the end of the concert, the group played music from their most recent album, Starcatcher, and you could tell that they had found their own voice. As young artists, they weren’t working the crowd as much as some of the more experienced artists, which only comes in time, but overall, they were an excellent live group. We then made our way to the vendors where we were met with an array of grossly overpriced, blandly mediocre festival food. This is to be expected for festival goers. The headliner of the day was to come next,The Killers and their performance was nothing short of impressive. They came onto the stage exactly as scheduled, 9:30 on the dot, opening with their most popular song “Mr. Brightside.” I definitely expected them to be tired of playing the song, because most of us are just about tired of hearing it, no matter how great the song is. To our surprise, lead singer Brandon Flowers seemed elated to play it once again. The entire concert was fantastic, and I was pleasantly surprised by the manners of the crowd, allowing space for everyone to have a good time. 

The next day, we rolled in at about 3:30pm. We set up our spot, and were able to catch Suki Waterhouse’s entire performance. She had a delicate and enchanting voice, perfect for laying down on a picnic blanket and relaxing. She has gained quite a bit of popularity in the last year at quite a rapid rate, thanks to social media. You could definitely tell her lack of experience with large crowds, but it didn’t distract from the quality of her voice. The Gaslight Anthem was the next performance we went to see, and while we weren’t quite familiar with their work, we found the concert to be quite entertaining, and we will definitely be checking out their music. Then we went to see one of my mom’s favorite bands, 311. It was a lot of fun and nostalgic for me. Up next was the up-and-coming indie artist Soccer Mommy. I had listened to some of her music before, so I made sure to drag my parents along to see her with me. For such a new artist, she sounded fantastic live, and her voice was perfectly clean. Then came one of the most exciting performances: Tenacious D. The duo sure knew how to work a crowd, and theirs was definitely the most fun. It was dynamic and entertaining, which is no surprise to those familiar with Jack Black and Tenacious D’s music. The most awaited band of the day was Muse. I grew up listening to Muse, so this performance came after a long time waiting. They had a large set-up on stage that was captivating and a video playing on the screens that gave more context to what the songs were about. I would have definitely enjoyed the concert more if the lead singer had worn more fashionable pants. 

Sunday was our last day, and we came in pretty late in the day, attending the final three performances on the big stages. First was Hozier, which was spectacular. He was relaxing and endearing. His voice easily evokes strong emotion. Then we saw The Flaming Lips, which had the trippiest show, with smoke and flashing lights. I was unfamiliar with most of their work, which made the experience all the more interesting. Last came The Lumineers. We were able to get a spot near the back but close enough to get a good view. This was definitely the most emotional performance, with couples and families dancing and swaying all around us. It was a beautiful moment and the perfect way to end our weekend. 

Overall, the weather was (mostly) perfect, and the people were (mostly) courteous. As far as music festivals go, Shaky Knees stays clean and is right here in Atlanta. I would definitely recommend coming by next year, if you can get a ticket early enough.

By Chloé Ghazal