With the release of their brand new album, Wide Awake! (via Rough Trade), Parquet Courts has done it again with one of the year’s best albums. We got the opportunity to experience the new songs live, not once, but twice over the Shaky Knees weekend.
On Friday, May 4th, before their festival set, Parquet Courts played a Late Night Show at Terminal West with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Parquet Courts set didn’t even begin until the clock was past midnight and it was already Saturday. Yet the venue was packed full of fans, many excited to see two sets from the Brooklyn band. A few hours after their Terminal West set had ended, the band was back on the Shaky Knees Music Festival stage in the late afternoon sun, tearing up the Piedmont Stage under a cloud of dust.
The ever evolving band has perfectly balanced their punk rock roots into their more overall post punk sound. Their latest album has continued pushing the band forward, even effortlessly mixing in more dance music into their sound that created a perfect blend over the Shaky Knees weekend. Their Terminal West set featured 19 songs, while their festival set included 15, featuring plenty of the Parquet Courts classics with many new classics from the Wide Awake!. Highlights live from the new album included “Total Football”, “Freebird II”, “Wide Awake”, and “Mardi Gras Beads”. Of course the song that created the biggest storm and was largely responsible for the huge dust storm that started around the Piedmont stage, was the single “Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience”, which formed the mosh dance party down front.
Check out photos from Parquet Courts two Shaky Knees Music Festival 2018 sets, all photos by Mike Gerry:
Shaky Knees Late Night Set @ Terminal West
Shaky Knees Music Festival Set
