Shaky Knees Festival entered its 13th edition with an incredibly stacked lineup, a sold out crowd and a hope that the weather would hold for the weekend. While two of those three remained true, attendees made the most of their time in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park with the likes of The Strokes, Turnstile, Geese and more- just to name a few from Friday. Atlas made the journey south to jump in the pit for all the action- check out our favorite moments from day one!
Pop Punk Power Hour
The Atlanta sun had the crowd steaming in the humidity and running for any sliver of shade but plenty of fans stuck it out in the heat for Cartel and Hot Mulligan. Cartel’s return has come with a pair of incredible records, the latest of which was being celebrated at Shaky Knees and with a very special hometown late night show on Friday as well. The band made sure to deliver all the fan favorites, interspersed with new material to remind everyone that they are very much here to stay.
Hot Mulligan squinted into blistering sunlight for a late afternoon romp that had bodies flying gleefully over the barricade to tunes like “Drink Milk and Run”, “And a Big Load” and more. Fans were camped at the Peachtree Stage (the largest stage of the event) for later acts but there were plenty of eager fest-goers ready to throw their bodies into Hot Mulligan’s set. It was a rousing hour that included a roast of the VIP section and plenty of cheeky interludes that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Shaky Knees Gets Loud
Undoubtedly one of the largest draws of day one arrived in the form of New York quartet Geese. The group has been making the rounds at this year’s summer festivals and they brought their jam band energy to the Piedmont Stage right at the pinnacle of golden hour. Fans raised signs requesting to play onstage, waved small goose figurines and even crowd surfed to the band’s offbeat energy as they chugged away at “Getting Killed”, “2122” and many more fan favorites. The band is typically quite reticent onstage and that did not change at Shaky Knees- even singer Cameron Winter’s deadpan “This song is about crusades” as the band segued into “Crusades” was par for the course. Whether this energy is just an enigmatic persona or not, the crowd soaked up every minute of Geese’s set as a hot day inched towards a rather sticky night.
Another band with a continued massive upward trajectory is Baltimore’s own Turnstile. The hardcore heavyweights took the stage while the sun was still peeking over the horizon and whipped the Peachtree Stage into a frenzied mass of humanity by opening with typical closer “Birds”. One thing about Turnstile- they’ll never do what’s expected of them and the audience will always have a fantastic time. The Shaky Knees crowd summoned all of their energy reserves to expend what was left in the multitude of mosh pits that opened up across the field. Singer Brendan Yates fully jumped onto the barricade during “Endless”, grasping the hands of anyone reaching for him as each upturned face sported a wide, euphoric smile.
Drones circled overhead armed with cameras to capture the chaos and- most notably- the joy on every face that crossed the big screen. Turnstile fans are incredibly devoted to the band and there wasn’t a moment between “Don’t Play” and the “T.L.C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)” that contained even a hint of negative energy. As always, the band performed at a breakneck pace before surrendering the night to the final act of day one.
The Strokes Light Up Night One
Diehard fans camped along the Peachtree Stage’s barricade all day to witness The Strokes headline on Friday night as the band turned their wall of lights towards a massive crowd. Opening with “Dine N’Dash” (for the first time), the audience immediately threw up records, signs and hands to dance with abandon. Julian Casablancas remained inscrutable behind his dark shades while the rest of the band smiled at the reception from yet another festival on their summer headlining run. A few technical difficulties marred an otherwise stellar set, but the band played it off like pros, jumping right back into the likes of “You Only Live Once”, “New York City Cops” and “Reptilia” to wind down the set.
Despite the heat, Shaky Knees pulled off an excellent first day in the park- and with more to come from the weekend, fans straggled home for a brief rest before heading back for two more days of very wild times.
