Shaky Knees Music Festival has officially dropped it’s full schedule for each day of the 2021 festival taking place October 22nd through October 24th in Midtown Atlanta. While the pandemic is an ongoing battle that forced the festival to cancel 2020 and push 2021 to the fall from it’s usual late spring spot, this is just another signal that the festival is indeed taking place this year despite already having some lineup adjustments! Now as long as things stay the course – get the dang vaccine! – and yes, Shaky Knees will now require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 Test within 72 hours of the fest – all that’s left to do is plan which stages you will be hitting and when. Plus you may be able to finally make that Late Night Show decision and get those tickets if there are any left.
With the full 2021 schedule finally in front of us, the initial reaction is well done once again Tim Sweetwood and Shaky Knees! The schedule is balanced and spread out with plenty of slots open for new discoveries while there are still many obvious choices (from this person’s perspective at least), enabling us to see uninterrupted many of the artists on the must see list.
Thus, the yearly conundrum at Shaky Knees is how many steps can my feet handle as I bounce across four stages hour by hour over three days. It’s a good problem to have. While Central Park, the site once again of this year’s fest and perhaps our favorite of all the places SK has been in Atlanta, is comfortably spread out and certainly can put plenty of steps on your odometer, the layout at Central Park is easy to bounce around from stage to stage to catch as many artists as possible.
The bigger issues this year may come for those that like to camp out up front for the headliners, because those people are going to miss some key artists on this year’s lineup. The Phoebe Bridgers fans aren’t too happy to have to move stages to catch both her and The Strokes, much like Mac DeMarco fans not wanting to lose their spot for the Foo Fighters. No doubt these folks can be crafty enough to experience both artists they want, with the experience they dreamt up with a little effort.
Like every Shaky Knees Music Festival, there are always plenty of tough decisions for everyone to make throughout the weekend. For some it may go back to which stage an artist is playing, but for us we are always looking at the set times and which artists are playing at the same time. With 4 stages, there are usually two artists playing at once, which can make for some difficult decisions.
On first look, the tough decisions that stand out immediately include the garage punk of White Reaper vs. the garage psych rock of Frankie & The Witch Fingers at the 2:15pm time slot on Friday afternoon. You really can’t go wrong here with both sure to provide a fiery early performance on the first day of the fest.
Then there is the Saturday schedule that brings a few really tough ones. At 6:45pm, you are going to have to choose between Swedish rockers The Hives, who rose to prominence in the early 2000s and don’t tour the US a lot, or late 80’s rockers Living Colour whom you of course know from “Cult of Personality”, though they are much more than that one hit. Then you have what may be the toughest choice of the whole festival at 8:45pm with the absolute legendary Alice Cooper up at the same time UK punks IDLES. Not only are IDLES on their way to being one of the current great rock bands in the world, if you were at the Shaky Knees and 2019, you already know that IDLES blew the roof off the pavilion of the Ponce Stage on the first day of the fest that year. You can’t miss IDLES set, but also, it’s Alice freaking Cooper!
Another tough decision/lineup disappointment on Saturday is between those last two at the 7:45pm slot. Hate to see Lunar Vacation up against Portugal. The Man! Why? Well we know SK alums Portugal. The Man always put on one hell of a show, no doubt. Meanwhile Lunar Vacation are young Atlanta local up and comers who are set to release their debut album right after the festival on October 29th via Keeled Scales. While the dreamy indie pop band have already built a strong and loving fanbase in their very young career, the new singles from the upcoming debut show a band ready to make their mark within the indie rock world. Love seeing the band not just thrown in somewhere early on the lineup with a great 7:45pm time, and they are sure to have a strong vocal crowd, but I do hate that PtM fans won’t get the chance to see Lunar Vacation for themselves. That one really is a tough call.
On Sunday, the toughest decision is going to be the 6:30pm time slot with Modest Mouse vs Black Midi, another old guy vs. new guy decision. Modest Mouse, another Shaky Knees alum, is one of those bands that started it all for us indieheads in the 90’s, while up and coming UK rockers are being hailed as one of the current best guitar bands around. Right after those two at 7:30pm may be an easy choice for many. Phoebe Bridgers has deservingly become one of the biggest artists around over the last few years with her 2020 album Punisher earning multiple Grammy nominations and even more critical acclaim with two supergroups boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus) and Better Oblivion Community Center (Conor Oberst). Phoebe Bridgers is a must see. Yes, wildly different, but don’t discount All Them Witches though. The Nashville rockers put on one hell of loud, drone-y noise that will knock your socks off. Those are both artists you want to see live.
Now that we have the schedule and know we are going to have to make some tough decisions, you can also throw in the Late Night Shows occurring after the festival doors have closed on Friday and Saturday night. at music venues around Atlanta These are separate tickets from the festival, but you can keep the party going real late while seeing more artists you wanted to see. Win, win!
Right now there are still tickets available to The Hives at Center Stage on Friday night, which means go see Living Colour at the festival. IDLES also plays Friday night at The Masquerade in Heaven, which should be an insane show with Gustaf opening. Snag those Late Night tickets and Alice Cooper it is for the fest! Portugal. The Man was another Late Night Show option, returning to their roots from many years ago playing our favorite small Atlanta venue, The EARL on Saturday night. But that one is already sold out.
Whatever the tough decision is for your 2021 Shaky Knees Music Festival, the schedule and all your options are in front of you now. Time to make a few those decisions and get your Late Night Show Tickets here before they are all sold out.
And if you haven’t gotten your three day pass, what’s holding you back? Shaky Knees Music Festival 2021 Tickets are onsale now. Get vacc’ed and let’s do this!
