photo by Courtesy of aLIVE Coverage for Shaky Knees Music Festival
Atlanta’s Shaky Knees Music Festival has a new home in Central Park. More accurately, the festival is moving back home after a two-year stint across town at Centennial Park. The festival still offers the same weekend getaway full of music from an impressive array of bands and artists.
The festival kicked off on Friday with Jack White taking the top billing. This year’s festival featured an easy layout across the park with four stages – Peachtree, Piedmont, Ponce De Leon, and Criminal Records.
Rock quartet Rival Sons stole some of the spotlight with an early afternoon set on the Piedmont stage. Franz Ferdinand was another fan favorite for the festival kickoff day, and treated fans to an energetic set.
Talking Heads icon David Byrne also made a stop in Atlanta to catch the start of the weekend festival. Byrne’s artsy live show has been creating quite the buzz on his new U.S. tour. Other notable mentions included performances by Fleet Foxes, Japandriods, and Courtney Barnett.
Day two of three kicked off without a hitch and with perfect weather. Michigan-based rockers Greta Van Fleet summoned an impressive daytime crowd for their performance on the Peachtree stage. Often likened to a reincarnation of Led Zeppelin, the four-piece group comprised of brothers Jake (guitar), Josh (vocals), and Sam Kiszka (bass/keyboards) and drummer Danny Wagner provided a rocking set that had fans jumping to their feet.
The Distillers, Manchester Orchestra, CAKE, The War On Drugs, and Matt and Kim rounded off Saturday night leading to headlining rockers Queens Of The Stone Age.
Sunday saw another perfect day for music in the park. Recent radio hit singer/songwriter Alice Merton played an early set on the Ponce De Leon stage. Her single “No Roots” has been receiving a lot of attention and airplay.
Festivalgoers on Sunday also took in performances by Vance Joy, Lord Huron, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and Tenacious D. The metal/comedy duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass drew a huge crowd for the Tenacious D set. Black also dropped some big news that their Pick of Destiny movie will be followed up with a sequel later this year.
The National closed out the festival Sunday night as the main headliner to wrap up yet another successful year for the Shaky Knees Music Festival. The packed lineup and crowds just went to show that it doesn’t mater where you move the party, the fun of Shaky Knees is sure to follow.