SHAKY KNEES 2022: The Friday Edition – Day 1 Review

The Shaky Knees Music Festival returned once again to Atlanta’s Central Park this weekend for three days of live music, late night sets and good vibrations. The set up was the same as it has been for the last several iterations of the festival – more than sixty bands playing across four stages in the heart of the city. With merchandise and food stalls, alongside the new for 2022 aura readings behind the Piedmont Stage, there was a lot to take in. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Shaky 22.

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: Friday, Day 1 Photo Galleries here

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: The Saturday Edition – Day 2 Review here

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: Saturday, Day 2 Photo Galleries here

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: The Sunday Edition – Day 3 Review here

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: Sunday, Day 3 Photo Galleries here

*Check out our SHAKY KNEES 2022: From The Photog – Top 14 Sets here

The Friday daytime sets were kicked off in earnest by the rising London-based indie-pop star Leon of Athens, alongside Dallas-based indie-rockers Little Image and high-octane energy from flipturn.

Those earliest sets gave way to the weekend’s first big standout, with the live performance from Acid Dad midafternoon on the Criminal Records stage. Acid Dad rocks. Check out their Levitation Session for a pretty great example of their unique blend of energetic psych rock set against a backdrop of colorful, soupy imagery from visual artist Webb Hunt.

On the subject of their often-discussed visual elements, the band said isolation gave them something to do.

“In the pandemic a lot of us couldn’t do anything and weren’t working. So, here’s a great opportunity to put in some 120-hour weeks; to experiment and make something different. It formed a lot of what we do now,” drummer Trevor Mustoe told OpenEars in an interview at the festival.

That Levitation Session, I think, hits on a formula that bands can turn into eyeballs in the post-pandemic era: mix live performance sessions with video content enriched by visuals to create something irresistibly easy to watch and listen to. Elevate the YouTube live set. 

“Even I don’t want to watch some fucking livestream. You have to do more,” said guitarist Sean Fahey.

It’s an approach that the standards bearers in psych rock have leaned into, from King Gizz to The Oh Sees, and something Acid Dad does very well. They were a clear standout at the festival, not just among the Friday day players but all weekend.

Other daytime sounds were powered by Grandson, Mannequin Pussy and Atlanta’s own Faye Webster. 

If you’re from Atlanta and you aren’t onto Faye Webster, check her out. She is a worthwhile Instagram follow, an easy listen on a Friday afternoon, and someone Matt Arnett predicted would make it big in 2016. He was right.

As Shaky’s Friday afternoon gave way to a beautiful evening, rock icons were out doing their thing. It was, for example, another classic set for the most consistent rock band in the world, Spoon. 

Their latest album, Lucifer on the Sofa comes five years after Hot Thoughts and an unbelievable 26 years after their debut. 2022 finds the band a little more guitar-oriented, and a bit more hard driving in a return to their rock and roll roots. 

Rocking the “all black everything, Johnny Cash” look, complete with black cowboy hat, the band’s iconic lead singer Britt Daniel took the crowd through a few of the new tracks from Lucifer, alongside a parade of hits from Gimme Fiction, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and the other stellar albums from their two and half decades on the scene. In a rock and roll world without enough “new” headliners, Spoon is a band that has continued to contribute meaningful tracks to the rock and roll discourse, and continue amping up their star power for decades. If you’ve never had the chance, don’t miss another Spoon show when they’re in your town. It’s a pleasure to see them live. 

Other notable Friday evening performers included Shannon and the Clams who were forced to cancel their late night set the night prior (the joys of rock booking in the Covid era), Dropkick Murphys (filling in admirably for Billy Idol who dropped due to illness and was missed dearly), and Rainbow Kitten Surprise, a band in the midst of their first tour since lead singer Ela Melo’s announcement (to an outpouring of support and love) that she is transgender. 

Friday was headlined by Green Day. Their set was everything you could ask for from the punk pop icons: it had the Dookie era hits that a generation of MTV kiddies know and love, the political commentary synonymous with the band since American Idiot first lobbed shots at the rotten core of U.S. mainstream culture, and in a Shaky Knees first*, coordinated pyrotechnics.

The set was reminiscent of the now sad to look back on Foo Fighters set from Spooky Knees just six months ago: we know all these songs by heart. We’re happy to be here on a Friday night. We want to have fun and embrace the energy. 

Which is why it was so easy to cheer when the band brought unsuspecting kids from the audience onstage to sing along and play guitar. And why the coordinated fireworks-with-guitar-riffs came off as more loveable than contrived. It’s 2022. We survived a pandemic and now we’re at a Green Day show. 

The big takeaway? If you aren’t having fun on a Friday at night at Shaky, you’re doing it wrong.

Check out more photos from Shaky Knees Music Festival 2022 – Day 1 on Friday, April 29th, 2022 below. All photos by Mike Gerry *Check back for Day 2 and Day 3 reviews, plus full photo galleries to come*