SHAKY KNEES 2021: The Sunday Edition

Sunday at Shaky Knees was a funny day. The line to get into the festival was at massive at the Central Park gate, and totally wide open at the Piedmont entrance. The sun was out, but the air was a little colder than the days prior. It seemed like half of the people who showed up were wearing The Strokes tees. The impending conclusion of Atlanta’s first rock festival in more than two years was hanging in the air.

Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2021: The Friday Edition – Day 1 Review here

Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2021: The Saturday Edition – Day 2 Review here

Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2021: From The Photog – Top 14 Sets here

Standout Acts, Sunday Edition

The day began, as most days do at Shaky Knees, with a performance from Songs for Kids. The work that Josh Rifkind and his team do to provide music mentorship and interactive programs for kids and young adults with illnesses, injuries, and disabilities is the real deal. You can support them in two great ways: first, pick a morning each Shaky to show up a little earlier, dance like a goof and cheer loudly for the performances put onstage by these brave kids. Doing so is a meaningful, important part of the Shaky experience in my opinion. Second, you can support the Songs for Kids foundation with a donation. If ever there was a charity that I could say I believe wholeheartedly in, and recommend fully to all who share a love for music and its power to heal and bring joy, it’s this one.

SHAKY KNEES 2021: The Sunday Edition – Day 3 Review — Bartees Strange

The early Sunday artists at the festival included several less familiar names and faces, including Bartees Strange, Finn Wolfhard’s new band The Aubreys, and Joy Oladokun, who covered Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and told the crowd her goal is “to be the black Bruce Springsteen.” I thought that seemed like a pretty cool goal.

Playing the Peachtree stage at the same time as The Aubrey’s played Criminal Records were Tennis. The band would’ve been in town fresh off a show in Orlando the night prior, but they cancelled that event because the state has a ban in place on asking for proof of vaccination. So, it was good to have the husband-and-wife team of Alaina Moore (vocals and keys) and Patrick Riley (keys and guitars) bringing their easy-flowing indie pop to our event, with the knowledge that they wouldn’t play in places like Atlanta were it not for the protocols we’re willing to put in place.

After Tennis, Delta Spirit played a mix of newer tunes and favorites from older albums. It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since the band released Ode to Sunshine, an album that was clearly one of the best of 2007, and that still holds up more than a decade later.

It’s rare for an artist to break out on the strength of their Corinne Bailey Ray covers, but such was the case for Ritt Momney, the solo project by Salt Lake City’s Jack Rutter. His version of “Put Your Records On,” has amassed nearly 400,000,000 streams on Spotify. It layers on an vibey TikTok aesthetic to the 2006 feel good pop track. He washed the Criminal Records stage on Sunday afternoon with chill vibes and modern pop beats.

Across the festival, the fringe-masked Canadian country artist Orville Peck took the Peachtree stage on a wild ride in what was one of the most memorable daytime sets of the weekend. Peck is fast becoming iconic with his mask-and-ten-gallon-hat look, his deep crooning baritone, and his Lady Gaga duets. It’s not all sizzle either. Peck one of the best voices in modern country, with a sound that puts him up there with Sturgill Simpson among the most unique in the alt-country scene.

As the day pushed closer towards its end, the Sunday finales popped off like fireworks. Modest Mouse took the main stage to deliver a headline-worthy performance. It’s been almost 20 years since the band’s breakout album Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and they’ve released plenty of material in the years since, but even still, those old original hits felt still felt relevant and familiar as they closed their set with “Float On,” and day turned to night behind the midtown skyline.

At the same time as Modest Mouse drew the majority of festivalgoers, London-based Black Midi lit a smaller crowd on fire at the Criminal stage. Their music is very, very hard to write about. It’s utter sonic madness that somehow makes sense live. The sound, and the chaos reminds me a bit of Primus in their heyday, with more jazzy notes. One thing is for sure, every band in the world longs to have a drummer like Morgan Simpson, who underpins the swirling musical chaos with order and structure.

The weekends final head-to-head choice was All Them Witches or Phoebe Bridgers. The majority of the crowd at the festival either stayed put at Peachtree stage in advance of the headliner or made their way to the Piedmont stage to hear the L.A.-based singer-songwriter Bridgers play hits from her critically acclaimed Stranger in the Alps and Punisher albums.

But for the discerning fans of psychedelic rock, All Them Witches was a must-see on the Ponce de Leon stage. Playing just their third show since December 2019, the hard-driving rockers were using the festival and a handful of other dates (such as sold out Halloween show in Nashville at the Ryman) as a warmup for a tour that kicks off in earnest in December and runs through early February.

Lead singer Michael Parks, Jr. is a fascinating dude; in the way that people who eschew convention or attention for their successes often are. Despite leading one of the psych rock scene’s bigger names, Parks lives in cabin the woods in rural Arkansas and told Open Ears he spent the pandemic sitting on the corner with a few local old timers.

“I joke that I was retired for two years. The only people I saw were 65 and older. We just sat around and shot the shit. I thought about getting a job at Sonic or bucking hay or something, if the music industry didn’t come back.”

Luckily, it did. And Parks’ band is back on tour, showcasing songs from their Abbey Road recorded Nothing as the Ideal. Check out Fishbelly 86 Onions to catch the vibe.

Shaky Knees 2021 concluded with a Sunday night headlining performance from The Strokes.

Lead singer Julian Casablancas delivered a surly and uneven performance, but Albert Hammond Jr. and the rest of the band sounded tight as ever, and the stunning geometric stage design lent visual displays of bright light and color.

As the clock struck ten, and fans made their way back out into the streets of Atlanta, my thoughts turned back once more to the backdrop. Spooky Knees, as it was nicknamed for its late October setting, was surely a success. The weather was perfect. The fans returned in droves. New health and safety protocols worked. And Atlanta’s oft-overlooked Central Park played an able-bodied and gracious host to the masses once more. Another great Shaky Knees in the books!