Shaky Knees - Day Three

After Saturday's clouds and brief rain, Sunday could not have been a more pleasant day - it was all sunshine and low humidity and fresh air.  A nice day for an outdoor indie-rock music festival.  Here's who we saw:

Tedo Stone

Tedo is a soulful, Atlanta-based singer-songwriter who opened the day for us at the Criminal Records Stage (we got to Shaky Knees some 90 minutes after the gates had opened and missed the first few acts of the day). In any event, it was a more-than-pleasant, gentle intro to a more-than-pleasant, gentle day.

Alice Merton

After Tedo Stone, we went into the tented Ponce de Leon Stage where it wasn't nearly as hot as on Friday.  Alice Merton is an English-Canadian indie pop singer who continued the pleasant groove of the day.

Alvvays

It was too nice a day to spend much time in a tent, so after Alice Merton we headed out into the sunshine of the big Peachtree Stage for the sunny indie rock of Molly Rankin's band Alvvays.  Alert readers may recall that we saw Alvvays at Terminal West back in October, and the set and song list were not dissimilar.  That's a good thing, as the folksy girl-pop of Alvvays were in perfect synchronicity with the weather and the day, and sometimes you just want to hear Archie, Marry Me followed by Dreams Tonight.  Video coming soon!

The joke here is that by 3:00 p.m., the drugs had kicked in, but that's just a joke - no illicit substances were ingested or inhaled by your humble narrator.  We didn't even smell much of that familiar cannabis aroma that usually lingers over rock-festival audiences - say what you want about kids these days and their vaping, but it all smelled much less illicit and more wholesome.  No illicit substances were injected or inhaled, but your humble narrator did have some fun with his iPhone photo-filter tools.

 Lord Huron

Lord Huron is one of our favorites and part of the whole reason we went to Shaky Knees this year.  It was our third or fourth time seeing him, as he also performed at Shaky Knees 2014 (the Atlantic Station year) and we saw him open for Andrew Bird at The Tabernacle a year or so before that. Sunday, the Cinemascope sound of his wide-open-west brand of folk rock went perfectly with the laid back vibe of the whole day.

Vance Joy

People thought we were joking or being ironic when we referred to him as "some guy named Vance Joy" on Instagram but seriously, we had never heard of him.  Nor are we likely to want to hear him again after his bland, pandering performance at Shaky Knees.  Granted, the whole solo-acoustic thing went well with the laid-back vibe the day had going for it, but with all the great musicians and bands who graced the stages this weekend, how was he selected as the penultimate festival closer?  

He got the biggest crowd reaction of his set by his faithful rendition of Lionel Ritchie's All Night Long, but the whole point of indie-rock is to not have to hear All Night Long, at least not covered unironically. Mayb a punk-rock version, sure, but not a faithful rendition like Vance Joy delivered. Lionel Ritchie is the epitome of commercial music, and indie is the opposite - some would say the antidote - to commercial music.  We tried not to be all stuffy and tried to get into the mood along with the couples dancing in the audience, but it just wasn't working for us.  Somebody needs to play Vance Joy a Clash album and wake him up.   

No illicit substances were ingested or inhaled by your humble narrator, but the beers were free in the VIP area, and when beer is the same price as water, which is to say free, well, let's just say some beers were consumed. The free beer helped us get through the Vance Joy set.  

The National  

That was more like it!  About the only band who could have rescued the day from the Vance Joy set was indie-rock royalty The National.  Like Lord Huron earlier, The National also played in 2014 at Shaky Knees (Atlantic Station edition).  Their set on Sunday night was great, and a great antidote to what went down before and a great closer to a great festival weekend, which is to say, that was it, folks!  Nothing more after The National.

The National played a 90-minute set with all the songs you'd want to hear from them (our favorite is Bloodbuzz, Ohio), after which we managed to track down an Uber and got home by 11:00.  Monday morning was a bit rough - no hangover, but sore feet and tired legs, a minimum of sleep, and a little too much sun.  But we survived and are already looking forward to Shaky Knees 2019!