2026 marked the 13th annual Shaky Knees festival. The festival has of course grown and expanded over the years, moved from its original home behind the Masquerade to Centennial, Central and now Piedmont Park. Now in it’s second year in what we should assume is its permanent home, the festival is bigger. A little less local. A whole lot hotter.
This year, Shaky Knees felt like it was more comfortable with its position as Atlanta’s pre-eminent music festival. The festival was sold out. The late night shows too. The Peachtree and Piedmont stage crowds were massive, day and night. Headliners boasted streams in the billions, and the undercard felt built to optimize groups of travellers; punk and hardcore on Friday, sounds for the Music Midtown crowd on Saturday, throwback rap on Sunday.
Let’s unpack.
Festival opener Ben Howard‘s set at the Piedmont Stage was, in a word, hot. Howard’s performance was spacious and beautiful, layered with violin, synths and more.
At the same time, on the Ponce De Leon Stage, Atlanta’s own Cartel, back with their first album in roughly 13 years, gave the emo and pop-punk loyalists a festival kick off too.
Hot Mulligan got the early-afternoon crowd moving with even more emo and their frontman spent a good share of the set trying not to have a heat stroke in the blazing, relentless sun.
While Hot Mulligan was scorching on the Peachtree Stage, over on the Criminal Records Stage Goldford brought the breezy vibes with a soulful set of throwback AM Gold sound.
But the festival felt like it kicked off in earnest with Geese. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in the last year thinking about the paradox of Geese. This Shaky set was my third time seeing them and I still have such mixed feelings.
On the one hand, Cameron Winter is an obvious superstar. A 24 year old rock icon, full stop. He’s like a baby genius Mick Jagger that the CIA cloned in a laboratory to make jangly noises that stand the test of time.
Both his solo work and his work with Geese, all of it is critically acclaimed (if not maybe a little juiced up by a bot army) but also still widely beloved by real people. When he records a live performance, Paul Thomas Anderson is the one behind the camera.
I was going to say “I’m surprised he’s not already dating some super famous celebrity and pap walking LA like a g,” and then I double checked and found this, Like, c’mon man. Whatever “it” is, he has it.
And yet, for all that juice…with the exception of a few songs like “Trinidad“, “Cobra” or “Taxes” (love all three), it’s kinda funny how undramatic the music can feel relative to the critical adulation. I know rabid fans who came to Shaky Knees only for this set. They will tell me it was a spiritual experience. I’ll shrug and say Cameron Winter is the man, and his band is great too. But, like the last two times I saw them, I guess I left wanting to have rocked out more?
I will give them their flowers too. They are, for all they have accomplished, still so young for all this attention. At 24, Cameron Winter isn’t even in his final form. And Getting Killed is a great album, not a good one. Live performance wise, the band has closed the gap this time around. They’re no longer just kids rocking out: everything feels more locked in. There is no doubt that this much lauded act will continue to ascend.
NBA also-ran Brian Scalabrine has a quote that I think applies to any criticism of Cameron Winter: “I’m closer to Lebron than you are to me.” Geese are newly minted entrants into that legendary, Rock Hall of Fame type of conversation. We will watch their careers with great interest.
As a counterpoint to the inevitability of Geese, I present to you, Turnstile. My pick for top set of the weekend, and while we’re breaking out superlatives…already the greatest crossover act to ever come from the hardcore scene?
A band like Turnstile should not receive widespread, total acclaim. They don’t have a lead singer made in a laboratory to craft rock and roll for the history books. They’re a hardcore band from Baltimore smashing power chord mosh pit skater shit. The kind of thing where the lead singer screams and then everyone goes nuts.
That sound is sometimes adjacent to the music I have historically fucked with, but not fully in my usual wheelhouse.
And yet… last time they played Shaky, I heard people talk about how incredible they were. A few months ago, I saw the drummer and Faye Webster grabbing a drink at Dad’s (and I know how legendary Faye’s taste is). And then I started seeing the clips on Instagram of their shows; thousands of people going absolutely nuts.
For Shaky, I grabbed the biggest Turnstile fan I know (shout out to Jake The Snake), and ducked as deep into the pit as I could get, emerging an hour later with a fucked up back, a busted lip, and wetter than if I had jumped in a pool with my clothes on.
I emerge from this foray to tell you the deal: Turnstile is one of the most genre-bending, innovative bands in the world. Just stop and consider the alpha and omega of A/B side release of “Seeing Stars / Birds“, or the yin and yang of “Look Out For Me” that starts at a standard punk show and ends at a Fred Again stadium tour. What the fuck are these guys doing, man? There is a humble, masterful art to who they are, and what they’re about. I respect their work deeply.
All that to say, the pit behaved exactly the way their Instagram feed promises: people went feral as advertised. This was the best set of the weekend, and I’ll buy tickets for everyone I know, and drag them all to the next Turnstile show in Atlanta.
It was still hot as shit, by the way, but who cares that was WILD.
Fontaines D.C. held the 8:30 slot closing out the Piedmont stage. I didn’t stick around for the full set, but they sounded great, and they looked every bit big enough to close a stage at a festival this size. Seems to me, the recipe is two cups of the Smiths, half cup of the Cure, a pinch of Oasis and Sonic Youth to taste. Which sounds delicious by the way.
Side note: I want someone to show me the Fontaines D.C. songs to love. Like, someone hit me up and show me the deep cuts that are going to blow my mind. I know they’re in there, but every time I go to listen, somehow I wind up only tangentially interested.
Meanwhile, Danny Elfman went heavy and cinematic. There was a fan up front screaming variations of “oh my God” with escalating profanity, and another yelling “slay king.” No notes for either.
Fun Danny Elfman fact: I always knew him as the composing partner for Tim Burton films. Which is a lot of what he played at Shaky. But he is also the lead singer of new wave band Oingo Boingo. Slay, king.
The Strokes
Let’s be honest about Shaky Knees history. The last time the Strokes headlined Shaky Knees, a lot of people left insulted. It was the worst set I’ve ever seen any band put on at this festival.
This time was better. The setlist was essentially wall-to-wall bangers. Julian Casablancas was present and on. An amp failure turned into a Julian ramble about AI, technology and his view that billionaires will eventually be overthrown (which, ironic given the source). In the end, the sun went down, The Strokes delivered their set, and Atlanta’s 13th Shaky Knees was up and running.
Check out more photos below from Shaky Knees 2026 Day 1. All photos by Mike Gerry Full photo galleries to come.
