Shaky Knees Festival 2015 is starting tomorrow! Now it’s time to start planning out your own personal schedule.
For those difficult decisions, we present to you the Shaky Knees Death Match. We will have each band in every time slot pitted against each other. You make the decision on who you must catch.
Shaky Knees Sunday Day 3, 6:45PM time slot has two extremely talented fellas, both worth seeing live in Ryan Adams at the Peachtree Stage and Xavier Rudd & The United Nations at the Boulevard Stage. Which show will you pick? Our thoughts:
Ryan Adams – Peachtree Stage
By Amanda Eckert
Imagine being on stage, ears ringing like there’s an airplane engine next to your head, wondering if the next step you take will trip you up, causing you to take a hard fall straight onto the stage, or even worse – into the audience. Just a few years ago this was the harsh reality singer/songwriter Ryan Adams was faced with, causing him to take a step back from the music industry in an attempt to learn how to navigate this new, debilitating condition. Luckily for us that time away was the respite he needed, and he’s been back to proving that he’s one of the great American songwriters of our generation.
While his new(ish) self-titled album is a bit more electric than previous twangy, acoustic pieces, the depth of lyrics and that edgy-blues tone remain a constant to Adams’ sound. In fact, you will find Adams at his finest on stage when he’s rocking out in all his glory to a blues solo on his Gibson. The first release of the record, “Give me Something Good”, which has been going strong since September, is one of those songs you can immediately get into and will get you fired up at a live performance. While I sit in New York City dreaming about ways to see Adams live, watching streams of his Coachella magic, you have the ability to get down to the frontlines and see this amazing talent before your very eyes. My words of advice to you while you stand there worn, tattered, and tired on a Sunday night after a weekend of festival going, when you just don’t know if you can handle one more show because you need to be at work early on a Monday morning – hang in there for just a few more hours and call out sick the next day. Experiencing Ryan Adams will be the icing on the cake for your three-day Shaky Knees Festival, 2015.
Xavier Rudd & The United Nations – Boulevard Stage
By Amanda Eckert
From the first lick of any Xavier Rudd song, an immediate sense of comfort and familiarity overtakes you and you feel like he’s an artist you’ve been listening for years. Truth be told, the Australian Rudd, who is doing a bit of the reverse by suddenly adding a backing band after an incredibly successful solo career, has been making music for the people for upwards of ten years.
Aptly named “the United Nations”, Rudd’s new band provides a worldly sound which support the singer’s uniquely smooth voice. There is no hiding the fact that the sound of Bob Marley is immediately evoked when listening to Rudd. The most recent release, Nanna, with it’s highly global sound has taken off treating Rudd and his new troop to sold out shows all along the Eastern Seaboard, most recently in NYC. The video for his first single “Come People” shows the eclectic Rudd, meandering through city streets with his rainstick and feathered top hat singing of the push and pull of modern life, imploring people to take action and come together. It’s one of those tunes that’s immediately is stuck in your head and will follow you pleasantly throughout your day. An artist, activist, and avid surfer, Rudd is thoroughly intriguing to watch and his chill reggae vibes will surely set the mood for a relaxing Sunday evening at the festival.
Check out these artists on the Shaky Knees Spotify Playlist
