SHAKY KNEES 2024 DAY 2
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 5/5/24
Photo Dusana Risovic
With bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Offspring, Queens of the Stone Age, and one of my favorites of all time Weezer. Day 2 had it all. Here’s a short recap.
Starting with the newer bands, we heard both Microwave and Dead Poets Society. Microwave is out of Atlanta, which I didn’t know, and has a variety of sounds from loud, hard rock to 90’s fast slow, and then some punk. The other was Dead Poet’s Society out of Boston that had hard riffs that reminded me of Rob/White Zombie up front, thrash, but then the vocals come in softer and higher for a fun mix of sounds. I like that Jack Underkofler, the lead singer, fell into the crowd and crowd surfed while singing one of the first songs.
On to the 90’s bands we love, first we actually had to miss Offspring because we had never seen Sunny Day Real Estate and we’re going to spend time with a band that we hadn’t seen. We love Offspring, I saw them back in 1994 and heard they did an incredible show. That brings us to Sunny Day Real Estate. They are one of those 90’s bands that I just got introduced to by a friend a few years ago and we started watching their videos on YouTube. I call them the quintessential fast slow early 90’s band. Melodious verses and vocals erupt into a barrage of heavy guitar and pounding drums, Sunny Day Real Estate satisfies song after song. Tour t-shirt purchased! More to come in our review.
Have you ever found yourself driving too fast on the interstate? You might have been listening to Queens of the Stone Age. What I call fast driving music, Queens of the Stone Age are very drum forward with deep and heavy beats, beautiful guitar riffs and Josh Homme’s great voice. Plus, they visually never disappoint, this year with roaming light show. Last time we saw them they had a large video board with led visuals that really went well with the music. Did you know Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) also did the drums on “No One Knows?” which you can tell by the drums! But my favorite of their songs after last night is “Go with the flow.” I always liked it but realized it is more diverse musically than some of the others.
My boyfriend back in 1994 gave me a non-descript bright blue album as a present. Little did I know that that album would be in my top 5 all-time records, and Weezer would cement themselves into rock god status in my life. I’ve seen Weezer over the years from them playing large festivals to arenas to a small stage at the Braves stadium and they always sound perfect. What I call garage or college rock, Weezer has a distinct sound that no one else can create and that sets them apart from some of the other 90’s bands, don’t get me wrong, I love most early 90’s bands! The underlying hum of the guitars, explosions of rock juxtaposing the smoothness or River’s voice, it all comes together completely. What I love about them live is they really play up the guitar and show their musical prowess, plus, visually, they always have their W front and center. If you’ve never seen them live, you must; it is an experience.
We didn’t make it to liquid death’s activation, it is on our to do list for today. We’re excited about Dinosaur Jr, Billy Idol, and Foo Fighters today. It’s going to be hot, so wear sunscreen and drink plenty of water.
