SHAKY KNEES 2019: Saturday, Day 2 Highlights & Photos

Day Two of Shaky Knees Music Festival began with uncertainty as storms were forecasted throughout the afternoon on Saturday. However, that didn’t stop thousands of music fans from making their way into Atlanta’s Central Park to see performances by over 20 rock and roll artists.

Check out our SK19 Day 1 Highlights & Photos Here

Check out our SK19 Day 3 Highlights & Photos Here

Thankfully, the rain held off through the afternoon and only affected the scheduling of the final few acts of the day, most of which were moved up by 30 minutes to an hour or slightly shortened to accommodate. These were our favorite performances:

Julia Jacklin

For the uninitiated, Julia Jacklin’s sound is what you’d find at the very center of a Venn diagram drawn to include Angel Olsen, Fiona Apple, and Mitski. Jacklin, born and raised in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney, Australia just released her sophomore album, Crushing, and we were very excited to attend her early-afternoon set at Shaky Knees.

One of the first acts of the day, Jacklin and her band appeared on the Peachtree stage around 12:45 on Saturday and immediately launched into 2018 single, “Body,” an intimate and truly beautiful song of resignation.

Halfway through the set, the three other band members exited the stage leaving Jacklin alone with her Fender Telecaster to play “Don’t Let the Kids Win,” the title track from her 2016 debut album. This was a moment out of time, the kind you always hope to find during Shaky Knees weekend—the cool breeze cut across the open field and carried on it her wisdom: “And I’ve got a feeling that this won’t ever change, we’re gonna keep on getting older / It’s gonna keep on feeling strange.”

Jade Bird

Jade Bird surprised us. I don’t know what we were expecting, but the energy exuberated from the 21-year-old on day two of the festival was both startling and infectious, and just like so many other artists over the weekend, she nearly brought down the tent at the Ponce De Leon stage.

Bird, whose music falls somewhere between indie folk, country rock and Americana, just released her debut full-length, Jade Bird, last month via Glassnote Records. She’s also in the middle of an ambitious tour where she’s scheduled to play nearly a hundred shows over the next 10 months throughout both North America and Europe. We definitely suggest checking her out if given the chance.

Jim James

Rain may have been in the evening forecast, but the Saturday afternoon sun shone bright for Jim James, whose scruffy face was adorned with a pair of red heart-shaped sunglasses, while a backup pair hung from his collar. James, whose own lyrics prompted Shaky Knees’s name, and who also played the original festival back in 2013 and then again with his band My Morning Jacket in 2016, simply embodies the laid-back, feel good vibes of the weekend.

James opened his set with “Over and Over,” the opening track from last year’s critically-acclaimed LP, Uniform Distortion, and he continued the theme as seven of the following eight songs were also from the guitar-driven album. Dancing fans crowded the hill while others sat under the shade of smalls trees, and a hawk glided over as James smoothly sang the “Throwback” chorus: “When we were young, when we were young!”

About three-quarters through his set, James looked to 2016’s Eternally Even for inspiration and played crowd favorites “Here in Spirit” and the politically-charged and catchy “Same Old Lie” back-to-back, before finally closing with the down-tempo classic “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.).” We couldn’t stop smiling.

Japanese Breakfast

Michelle Zauner took the stage in style on Saturday, wearing a custom gold ruffle mini dress designed by Atlanta’s own Kelsey Randall. An electronic hum began to reverberate through the Ponce De Leon tent, adding to the anticipation that had been building there for nearly an hour. Then came the drums, shortly followed by the rhythmic notes of the electric guitar, and finally Zauner’s own other-worldly vocals soared out and over the dancing crowd as “Diving Woman” bloomed in full.

This is Japanese Breakfast—Zauner’s most recent solo project which has produced two critically acclaimed LPs since 2016. The set continued with highlights that included singles “Road Head” and “Boyish,” as well as an incredibly fun cover of “Lovefool” by The Cardigans. Everyone in attendance was enjoying themselves, and we never saw the smile leave Zauner’s face, especially when, mic in hand, she joyously ventured out into the crowd during the climax of “Machinist” to close out the performance.

Japanese Breakfast is about to depart on a short tour of Asia before playing a handful of other festivals over the course of the summer. And Zauner also recently announced that Knopf will soon be publishing her memoir, Crying in H Mart; her essay by the same name was published in The New Yorker last fall.

Gary Clark Jr.

We were disappointed when it was announced that Gary Clark Jr.’s set was to be shortened due to inclement weather, but the talented blues guitarist from Austin, Texas made the most of his allotted time, bathing the crowd gathered at the Piedmont stage in sound as rain began to fall on Central Park.

Known for his powerful live performances, Clark mostly showcased tracks from his phenomenal new album, This Land, which was released in February on Warner Bros. Records.

After six songs of glorious bluesy guitar rock, Clark and his band exited the stage only to return minutes later for one final number—an epic interpretation of The Beatles’ “Come Together” that reverberated into the surrounding neighborhoods as if to reassure us all that rock is alive and well.

Cage The Elephant

Neon lightning bolts ornamented each side of the sound booth at the Peachtree stage, but thankfully it was only rain that settled over the festival grounds as Cage The Elephant began their show just after 8:30 on Saturday. In epic rock and roll fashion, the stage was literally lit on fire as Matt Shultz and company erupted into the energetic “Broken Boy,” the opening track off their new album Social Cues.

Rain continued to fall throughout the show, which only added to the communal experience that Shaky Knees brings to Atlanta each year. As Shultz paraded across the stage in his fishnet bodysuit, a large dance circle formed near the Dos Equis building at the back of the field, with the crowd dancing and singing along to favorites like “Trouble” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” Everyone was soaked and smiling.

The night ended on a reflective note with the band leaving Shultz alone on stage to perform a lovely acoustic version of “Love’s the Only Way”. ~ Written by Kyler McCoy

Check out photos from Shaky Knees Music Festival 2019, Saturday, Day 2 by Mike Gerry: