SHAKY KNEES 2024: From The Photog – Top Sets

Another Shaky Knees Music Festival has come and gone, and now it’s time to reflect back upon Shaky Knees 2024, the festival’s 11th edition headlined by Noah Kahan, Weezer, and with Foo Fighters closing it out on Sunday night.

While we all like to debate festival lineups and which ones we personally like the best, looking back upon the memories of Shaky Knees 2024 just shows another year where Tim Sweetwood stacked the lineup. The festival has certainly grown over the years, and it may not be exactly what we remember it as since it’s humble beginnings, but once again I can say that I saw a heck of a lot of great artists throughout the weekend, whether the big names or up and comers. And just like every other year, you couldn’t ask for a better run festival. Things are never 100% perfect, but overall things just run well at Shaky Knees and it takes a lot of people to make that all come together and run as planned. So once again, another big congrats to the village that gives Atlanta Shaky Knees year in and year out. Sold out festival, well done!

Onto the music that happened though. Let’s talk about the best sets of the weekend, shall we? Look, I enjoy putting together a little list like this to look back, but as the resident OE photographer, I never feel really good about it because, well, I’m not really typically experiencing a full set from start to finish. I also try to hop around and catch some of multiple sets if possible, sometimes onto the next time slot I’m shooting. Sometimes which set I go to isn’t totally of my own choice either. And so of course, there are also those sets you hear about from others, “I can’t believe you missed _____’s set, they were incredible” while I was at another stage. Though I’m certain we all experience that FOMO or whatever you want to call it. This year though, I did try to be a little bit better about sticking around for as much of those stand out sets as I could and just enjoy the whole Shaky Knees experience instead of trying to cross festival grounds over and over to catch snippets of artists. Another perk of the Ponce and Criminal stages being side by side this year, long stretches were spent on that side.

Either way, I feel pretty good about my picks as the stand out sets at Shaky Knees 2024. This list isn’t for the 3 headliners though. Besides Noah Kahan really, we are talking known quantities here. Foo Fighters and Weezer at this point are legends that have years of experience of putting on great live shows and certainly haven’t lost their touch. If I listened to a Classic Rock radio station (is that still a thing?), they are probably playing Weezer and Foo Fighters these days, which is really weird to think about and if true, makes me feel old. Anyways, I’ll also give Noah Kahan a shout. I really didn’t know much about him or his music beforehand, only that he had blown up fairly fast to the status of headlining Shaky Knees (and seemingly every other festival this year) alongside those two. But honestly, I give him props for his set over all, he certainly wasn’t swallowed by the big stage and if anything proved he belonged on that level.

Onto the picks. From the Photog, The Top Sets of Shaky Knees Music Festival 2024, plus a few honorable mentions:

WINONA FIGHTER

Friday really kicked into high gear early with the 1:30pm set from Winona Fighter. These folks were pure energy from the whole band, but especially front woman Coco Kinnon, who was non stop from start to finish.

WINE LIPS

Now having seen these guys a few times, I had no doubt they’d rock the Criminal Records Stage, and that’s exactly what they did. I wouldn’t say that Wine Lips are one of the rowdiest bands on stage themselves, though they are no slouch, but they don’t need to be because the music gets the crowd plenty wild on it’s own.

POND

Having attended every Shaky Knees, if I was to sit down and write out my top sets of the festival ever, Pond’s 2017 set at Centennial Park would be up there. This year’s set was much the same. Nick Allbrook was probably the best frontman of the whole weekend, just as remembered. The music is out of this world with everything from songs that can make you dance to spacey psych rock.

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS

The Wine Lips, Pond, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and then All Them Witches stretch was probably the best 4 band stretch of the weekend. Which meant plenty of time to get cozy on the Ponce/Criminal Records side of the festival with 4 straight sets bringing the absolute heat over there, one being Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Once again, the energy was off the chains and there was so much crowd surfing!

ARCADE FIRE

I just have to say, that over, this set was pretty magical. Not only are these songs dating back to the band’s beginnings standing the test of time, but there is just something special about them in a live setting surrounded by thousands of your suburban friends. It just hits, and of course, they have plenty of songs to get the crowds moving. A+ set.

BAD NERVES

While waiting for this set to start up, I knew it was on when I saw pink hat guy making his way to the stage. He promptly went to the barricade, set down his drink, and then skipped around back into the middle of the crowd. Yep, there is going to be a lot of crowd surfing. And once the band started, that’s exactly what we got, pure post punk energy. Even though Friday was such a strong day, this Saturday set felt like when Shaky Knees 2024 really kicked into high gear. This crowd was just ready to unleash. SO MUCH CROWD SURFING, SO MUCH ENERGY. Heck, there was some maybe 13-15 year old boy crowd surfing over and over, and each time you could see the pure absolute joy beaming off that kid. Heck of a set.

GIRL IN RED

One of the surprises of the festival for me, I knew she had been blowing up, but honestly I didn’t expect so much stage presence and energy. But she had all that and more with a really fun set.

ROYEL OTIS

I figured these guys would be good live based on what I heard as they released single after single leading up to their debut and new album released just before Shaky Knees. I figured with a sound like theirs and so many singles that just screamed indie hit, surely despite their early set that Royel Otis has been discovered here in the states and would draw a solid crowd. And for a 1:15 pm set on Sunday, Piedmont was packed, and for good reason. It’s pretty much impossible as a crowd not to be engaged Royel Otis, singing along and dancing with these songs. This may just be my favorite set of the whole weekend, and I definitely can’t wait until Royel Otis comes back to Atlanta one day.

WAXAHATCHEE

After a perfect set under the sun from Men I Trust, a storm came through just as Waxahatchee was set to take the stage. And when I say storm, the bottom dropped out with heavy, heavy rains. Luckily, it was all rain, so the show was able to go on and didn’t stop Waxahatchee from taking the stage for one of those epic rain sets. Admittedly, the crowd was sparse, but for those that stuck it out, Waxahatchee just has that perfect voice and folk sound for a throwback rain set where the music just engulfs you. Then again, I have no doubt those over at the Ponce stage at the same time were saying the same about the Dinosaur Jr. set. There’s just something about letting it all go during a rain set ya know? Unfortunately for the photos of Waxahatchee’s set, it was more about protecting the gear and enjoying what I could of the set instead.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Those are the sets I’m going to with as the stand outs I saw at Shaky Knees 2024, but there were plenty more that deserve a shout out. All Them Witches belong up there in the top tier. Interpol always sounds great. Blondshell was an early Saturday standout, and honestly so was Grace Cummings. Dexter & The Moonrocks put on a really good live show, that somehow even included a punkish version of Coldplay’s “Yellow”, and I can’t even deny it was pretty dang good. Of course, what I caught of QOTSA, I mean, yeah. I really loved Men I Trust’s set on Sunday, just a perfect afternoon set before the rain hit. And of course, once the rain stopped, Billy Idol did what he does just like Portugal. The Man, whom both always put on a great live show. Truly it was another great Shaky Knees Music Festival.

And the last shoutout has to go to the actual festivalgoers! The sad side is that when attracting 40,000-60,000 people, or whatever it is, there’s bound to be some not so good within. But overall, after attending Shaky Knees every year, I always come out positive on the actual people that attends the festival. It’s generally good vibes and respectful attitudes from those that make their way to Midtown Atlanta for a rock music festival. So for that, I salute you festival attendees that roll with the punches and just have a good time.

THE PEOPLE