A rainy Saturday night had festival goers and locals swarming into downtown Atlanta for a plethora of Shaky Knees late night shows. The Masquerade hosted several events, including Knocked Loose in Heaven for wild time that stretched into the early hours of Sunday morning.
Local hardcore outfit Foundation opened the show at the ripe hour of midnight but the audience’s energy was already heightened. The straightedge group has been a staple in the Atlanta scene for two decades, but only recently started playing reunion shows, including Saturday’s performance. From the first notes of their set, the crowd was already flinging themselves towards the barricade and crushing the fans on the rail. Vocalist Tomas Pearson spent more time on the barricade than he did onstage, getting the fans riled up for a beautifully chaotic opening set.
Knocked Loose vocalist Bryan Garris prowled along The Masquerade’s stage as the clock ticked further into Sunday morning before screaming at the audience to give the band everything they had. The crowd was more than happy to oblige, with the now sold out venue turning into a crush of bodies and shouting along to “Blinding Faith” and “Don’t Reach for Me”. The band hasn’t made a proper visit to Atlanta in awhile and Garris expressed a genuine desire to play a show that was entirely theirs before the following day’s Shaky Knees set.
Diehard KL fans were completely at ease with spending a long night with the band and- from the floor to the mezzanine- they showed the Kentucky based band just how much they’ve missed them. For their part, Knocked Loose gave the set the same untethered energy and consistently stellar musical prowess that they devote to each and every show- details that were noticed and appreciated by the packed room. This is also the first time that the band is taking their new single, “Hive Mind” on the road and the response to the track was thunderous in the moment.
Atlanta expended whatever dregs of energy they had left for the final songs of the set, with the night closing out with “Counting Worms” (deafening barking and all) and “Everything Is Quiet Now”. Fans stuck around all night for this very special gig, spilling into the dampened downtown streets ready to do it all over again at Shaky Knees the next day.
