It was an absolutely incredible opening day to Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday. The lineup was absolutely stacked, with amazing acts in every time slot causing some tough set-time choices. However, with the bands that were there, you could not go wrong on any stage that you went to. This is the review of where Road Trip Playlists went on Friday, and some of the favorite things that we saw throughout the day.
After some last minute schedule changes with some artists being scratched from the lineup, we started our day at the Piedmont stage.
Flipturn’s Electric Set at the Piedmont Stage
Having already seen flipturn open for Wilderado at Bowery Ballroom in New York this year, I knew the band puts on an incredible show. However, Friday at the Piedmont Stage, the high bar they set earlier this year was quickly exceeded in one of my favorite sets from day one at Shaky. The band from Jacksonville, Florida came out with lots of energy and played ‘Six Below’ from their Citrona EP. Every song they played was electric to a festival crowd that knew the words, and sang along with the rock outfit.
Along with their hits like ‘Chicago’ and ‘August,’ flipturn also played a slew of unreleased music while announcing their debut LP which is set to release later this year. Fans got a sneak peak at the highly-anticipated debut from the rising stars in indie rock. Read our full review of flipturn’s set at Shaky Knees, here.
Faye Webster in a Homecoming Set at the Piedmont Stage
Faye Webster’s entire set at Shaky Knees was special. The star entered the stage in the patented blue dress you’ll see across her Instagram page.
Webster, who is from Atlanta first rose to major popularity from her Atlanta Millionaires Club album and fans lined deep down the Piedmont Stage filling entire field. There was a special moment after the first two songs where, Webster exclaimed how cool it is to play Shaky and that her parents were in the crowd. She pointed to her waving parents in the crowd and really wholesome to see the joy on each persons face. Her parents were there to see an enormous crowd assembled to listen to their daughter play a beautiful set at their hometown festival.
Webster played favorites like ‘Kingston,’ ‘Right Side of My Neck,’ and even one of President Obama’s favorite songs of the year, ‘Better Distractions.’ The set was special from start to finish, and it was a pleasure to witness the entire thing.
Lennon Stella at Shaky Knees
Lennon Stella played a wonderful set at the Piedmont stage to a large crowd. Stella has been wowing fans musically since the age of 12 as part of the duo Lennon & Stella with her younger sister, and that showed in her live set. Their was a confidence and swagger on stage in the performance from the 22-year-old singer songwriter. She played fan favorites ‘Golf On TV,’ ‘Kissing Other People,’ ‘La Di Da,’ and ‘Bad.’ She also played beautiful covers of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ by Keane, and ‘Thank You’ by Dido which she recently released a version of for listeners to stream anytime. The 2020 Juno Award Winner for Breakthrough Artist of the Year proved that she is only going to continue to skyrocket as a star in the pop genre.
Spoon Was Super – Can’t Miss Every Time
Spoon recently released a new record ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’ and that gave fans the opportunity to see the band live at Shaky Knees. Whenever you have the chance to see Spoon, you should take it. The live experience at a Spoon show is outstanding. The rockers began their set with their 2009 hit ‘Got Nuffin’ from their Got Nuffin EP. The classic rock band who recently released their tenth album continues to show why they’re one of the biggest names in rock and roll. Fan were lining up nearly an hour early to get a good view of the band at the festival stage. Each member of the band brought something special to their live performance, and the cohesion they have was evident the entire set. Highlights of the performance was hearing ‘The Way We Get By’ and ‘Inside Out.’ Britt Daniel is an incredible performer and as an entire set, it was one of the best for the day and likely the weekend.
Green Day With Special Shaky Knees Surprises
Green Day was incredible. As the headliner and closer for night one, they put on an incredible show from start to finish. Their legacy is already incredible. They have one of the best-selling independent albums of all time, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they had a stage adaption of their album American Idiot be nominated for three Tony Awards on Broadway. All of these accolades were evident in their incredible live show, still after all these years. They were amazing from start to finish, playing hit after hit. However, some of my favorite things from their set weren’t necessarily the performances. In recent years, the band has been bringing fans on stage that know the chords of their songs to play with them, and they did again on the Shaky Knees stage. It was fun to see, and of course, they let him keep the guitar in an incredibly kind gesture. But that wasn’t the only surprise, at one point frontman Billy Joe Armstrong turned and saw a different bass player on stage, and it was his son, Jakob playing guitar on stage with the band. Jakob’s band Ultra Q, played on earlier on Friday at the festival, and it was really wholesome to see him perform with his dad’s band on the giant stage. The band closed with their hit ‘Good Riddance’ as confetti shot from cannons as the song was closing and fans were crying all over the place. It was a magical end of an incredible performance complete with pyrotechnics and fireworks.