Shaky Knees Music Festival
Ticket info: Single-day general admission tickets, $61 (kids under 5 are free). Tickets to the 10 p.m. Saturday show at Masquerade with the Black Angels and Goat, $20.
Hours: Noon-11 p.m. Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday.
Parking: Attendees are encouraged to take MARTA (complimentary shuttles will be provided at the North Avenue station); complimentary shuttles will also begin running at 10 a.m. both days from paid parking lots at the Atlanta Civic Center (395 Piedmont Ave. N.E.) and the Atlanta Medical Center Deck (285 Boulevard N.E.) and at 11 a.m. at the alternate Civic Center entrance (266 Pine St.).
Etc.: Food trucks, vendors and ATMs will be on site.
Info: www.shakykneesfestival.com
Shaky Knees schedule
Saturday
12:30 p.m., North Avenue Stage — Tumbleweed Wanderers
12:30 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Death on Two Wheels
1 p.m., O4W Park Stage — Robert Ellis
1:45 p.m., North Avenue Stage — Roadkill Ghost Choir
1:45 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — You Me and Apollo
2:30 p.m., O4W Park Stage — Vintage Trouble
3:30 p.m., North Avenue Stage — Hanni El Khatib
3:30 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Moon Taxi
4:30 p.m., O4W Stage — the Joy Formidable
5:30 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Lucero
5:30 p.m., North Avenue Stage — the Orwells
6:30 p.m., O4W Stage — Gary Clark Jr.
7:30 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Jim James
7:30 p.m., North Avenue Stage — J. Roddy Walston and the Business
9 p.m., O4W Stage — Band of Horses
10 p.m., Heaven at the Masquerade — the Black Angels and Goat (separate ticketed show)
Sunday
12:30 p.m., North Avenue Stage — Swear & Shake
12:30 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Von Grey
1:15 p.m., North Avenue Stage — T. Hardy Morris
1:15 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Frontier Ruckus
2 p.m., O4W Stage — Shovels & Rope
3 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Murder by Death
3 p.m., North Avenue Stage — the Heartless Bastards
4 p.m., O4W Stage — Delta Spirit
5 p.m., North Avenue Stage — Oberhofer Sun
5 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Kurt Vile & the Violators
6 p.m., O4W Stage — Dr. Dog
7 p.m., Masquerade Music Park Stage — Drive-By Truckers
7 p.m., North Avenue Stage — the Antlers
8:30 p.m., O4W Stage — the Lumineers
Music fans know that there is no shortage of festivals in the Atlanta area.
But local concert promoter Tim Sweetwood noticed that among the niche genres filling many area parks — mainstream pop/rock, electronic dance music, hip-hop — that one style was glaringly abandoned: indie rock.
This weekend, Sweetwood is launching the two-day Shaky Knees Music Festival, a 29-band, three-stage musical smorgasbord that will take root at Fourth Ward Park and the Masquerade Music Park.
His focus is on up-and-coming music — “We already have a big mainstream festival (Music Midtown). I wasn’t looking to get 50,000 people out to call it successful,” Sweetwood said — so his lineup is heavy on SXSW faves such as the Orwells, Moon Taxi and Roadkill Ghost Choir with a few radio-friendly and buzzy acts such as the Lumineers, Gary Clark Jr., Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James inserted into the higher-profile evening slots.
Sweetwood is an unabashed My Morning Jacket fan — an “uber geek,” as he calls himself — and named the festival after a lyric in the band’s song “Steam Engine.”
He also has a longstanding relationship with James, as well as most of the other acts on the bill, many of which he’s brought to local venues including the Earl, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park and his base, the Masquerade.
Advance ticket sales for Shaky Knees have been strong. Single-day general admission tickets for both days are still available, as well as tickets for the separate Saturday night show at the Masquerade with the Black Angels and Goat, but two-day passes and VIP entry are long gone.
Sweetwood already knows that he plans to make Shaky Knees an annual event in the same location and during the same weekend.
“Having it the first weekend of May, it fits neatly between the other festivals. I’m not interfering with a neighborhood festival or the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival,” he said. “It makes sense to do it in the spring since there was already a major music festival in the fall (Music Midtown) and football is such a competitor. Most people care about football more than a music fest. But in the spring, people are looking to get outside.”
Sweetwood also has high praise for the neighborhood support he’s received.
“It’s been a lot easier than we expected. The Fourth Ward is a growing area, so you never know, this festival could expand,” Sweetwood said, adding, “but it will expand the right way.”
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