FOR MORE INFORMATION:http://shakykneesfestival.com/

By Liz Attaway, Eric Wallin, and John Attaway

In front of the Peachtree and Piedmont stage stood a large paved parking lot filled to the brim with a sea of ecstatic music fans enjoying their favorite bands. With several thousand of your fellow Atlantans, and some good music, once the cloud parted and the storm passed, Shaky Knees’ Saturday night in Atlanta was a rocking good time.

The large turnout for this year’s Shaky Knees Festival made it clear that Atlanta’s up-and-coming music festival had outgrown the humble beginnings of last year’s inaugural launch for the festival. Last year’s Shaky Knees Festival brought Atlanta’s music lovers to The Masquerade, a well-known music venue on Atlanta’s Beltline, which is in walking distance to many homes and Atlanta’s hottest new residential development, Ponce City Market. This year’s venue is not known for its musical legacy, but instead is one of Atlanta’s premier retail districts, sandwiched between a movie theater, a major department store, a parking garage and the Downtown Connector. Atlantic Station proved to be more than accommodating for the increased turnout of this year’s event. In exchange for the in-town neighborhood charm of Old Fourth Ward, Atlantic Station provided convenience, plenty of parking, and a paved special events area that saved concertgoers from the muddy mess of last year’s event. Rain came and went on Friday and Saturday with little incident.

As for the venue, the stages were set up in two areas of two stages each, the Piedmont / Peachtree stages in the back area of the venue, and the Ponce de Leon / Boulevard stages near the entrance. Other festivals often involve mass migrations of the crowds between stages, but these paired stages afforded little interruption between sets, as one act would be setting up on the stage next to the current act that was playing. It made for an enjoyable music experience! As afternoon turned to evening, Atlanta’s impressive downtown skyline lit the night sky with urban brilliance, painting a striking backdrop for a spectacular evening lineup, featuring Conor Oberst, Houndmouth, The Replacements, Jenny Lewis, with the evening being capped off by Modest Mouse. While we were only able to make it for Saturday’s performances, Friday and Sunday also featured top notch entertainers and fan favorites.  Friday fans got to hear The National, local Athens, Georgia favorites The Whigs, Dropkick Murphy, Cage the Elephant, Gaslight Anthem and many others.  Sunday fans got to hear Brooklyn’s San Fermin, music festival staples Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, music veterans the Violent Femmes with Alabama Shakes capping off the official end of the festival.

Of the acts on Saturday night, those that stuck out were Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse and of course The Replacements. Cold War Kids catchy radio tune, “Hang Me Out To Dry,” is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head. They’re one part indie rock with strong guitar and one part electronica, stir in some eighties influence and you’ve got Cold War Kids. Modest Mouse was the Saturday headliner with notable radio hits like “Float On” and “Dashboard.” The Singer Isaac Brock and his Modest Mouse crew have been around since 1993 and released their first album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About, in 1996. Considered indie rock now-a-days, their performance was one of the best of the night with an explosion of light and sound.

Finally, that brings us to The Replacements, that band you’ve heard a dozen of their songs from the 80’s and early 90’s but never knew their name. That being said, they’ve been around since 1979 and were big influencers on current music. Something I didn’t know about The Replacements, was the 1998 teen movie, Can’t Hardly Wait, was named for The Replacements song, “Can’t Hardly Wait” that plays in the movie’s credits. Thanks, wiki, for that awesome tidbit of interesting information. We had heard that The Replacements were one of the best shows around and boy did they impress at Shaky Knees. After 22 years apart, The Replacements roared back into the festival limelight with 2013’s Riot Festival. Not only that, but they picked up a guest appearance of late (and at Shaky Knees) by Billie Joe Armstrong, front man and guitarist of the popular group, Green Day. According to Wikipedia, he recalled seeing The Replacements live after the release of Pleased to Meet Me. “It was amazing. It changed my whole life. If it wasn’t for that, I might’ve spent my whole time playing in bad speed-metal bands.” So, are you telling us Green Day is Green Day because of The Replacements? Thank you, The Replacements, we salute you!

Aside from the music, food and refreshments were on tap, serving up cold Dos Equis beer (XX), cocktails and the new Desperados tequila-flavored beer. If you remember from our Counterpoint 2014 article, this was the beer we thoroughly enjoyed with the sweet tequila taste and smooth beer finish. Atlanta’s well-known food trucks and vendors also were present, including the well-known King of Pops, The Fry Guy food truck, the Atlanta Burger Truck, Buen Provecho, Bomb Squad Pizza, Nectar, The Pickle Food Truck and On Tapa The World. Thank you, Heineken and Desperados Beer, for the access to the festival, including VIP. We had a blast and can’t wait until next year!