Shaky Knees crowds stay fired up for second day before Sunday’s finale

With highs in the mid-70s and a light breeze, weather conditions are far better than the rain that festival-goers contended with on Friday afternoon.

Check back here throughout the day for highlights from Day 2.

Read coverage of Day 1 here.

The festival will continue for a third and final day Sunday.

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Cafuné

The Brooklyn-based duo were in Atlanta as recently as March promoting their upbeat brand of indie pop. But they’d never played a crowd as large as Shaky Knees, lead guitarist Noah Yoo told the crowd toward the end of the band’s 45-minute set.

Cafuné was formed nearly a decade ago by Yoo and singer-songwriter Sedona Schat, who met as students in New York University’s recorded music program.

Accompanied by a bassist and drummer, Schat and Yoo played songs from throughout their catalog, including new music and an Auto-Tune-sounding track called “Empty Tricks.” Schat alternated between guitar and singing as Yoo pumped up the crowd and shredded on his guitar as his sunglasses slid down his nose.

Their unusual name has helped garner them a notable fan base in Brazil. Cafuné is a term in Portuguese that roughly translates to ‘scratching the head of a loved one.’

Since then, Schat and Yoo have garnered legions of new fans through the social media app TikTok, where their song “Tek It” recently went viral.

Cafuné capped their set with “Tek It,” as hundreds of fans bopped along in the sun.

— Tamar Hallerman

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Olivia Jean

Any festivalgoers still lethargic after waking up from Day One of the festival were awakened in quick order by Third Man Records artist Olivia Jean’s punchy set early on Saturday.

Welcoming everyone into her gothic garage, she played a number of songs from new album “Raving Ghost” — even matching the album artwork with matching purple dress and Fender guitar. After acknowledging “we are zombies,” as Jean and her band played a show late last night in Nashville, she worked through a few sound problems before unleashing the ferocious, mid-tempo title track.

The crowd clapped along to standout “Ditch,” another new song with a keyboard breakdown between lightning-fast verses. Olivia Jean and group sounded extra sharp on catchy new single “Trouble,” with the singer’s “Ohs” mimicked by a lead guitar part, and a chorus of, “Oh where did you go? / I’m in big trouble.”

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

“That one came together pretty fast,” she said in a post-set conversation about the new album. After “Trouble,” she made the crowd guess what song she was about to cover, and I think few did. Scarcely recognizable was a garage rock raveup version of Enya’s New Age standard “Orinoco Flow.”

“That used to be my hype song before going onstage!” she exclaimed in the interview, noting she had to convince the other musicians playing on the record that it would work out well.

Jean wrapped things up with a few more songs from “Raving Ghost” before thanking the crowd and declaring, “It’s gonna be a good day.” “We try to keep the momentum going because we don’t have a lot of time,” she said later, referring to how she picks songs for festival appearances. And the set did just that, capturing Olivia Jean and her group in top form.

— Matthew W. Smith

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Shame

South London quintet Shame quickly won over the Ponce de Leon stage crowd at 3 p.m. with an absolutely relentless 45-minute set of angular post-punk.

Starting a U.S. tour in support of third album “Food for Worms,” the group got a mosh pit going fairly early in the proceedings.

“Good afternoon, America!” yelled frontman Charlie Steen, noting “we haven’t been here in a while” before launching into opener and early highlight “Fingers of Steel.” Indeed, Shame’s only previous local appearance was at the Earl, something Steen noted. “Are we enjoying ourselves?” he asked. He knew the answer already, an emphatic “yes,” particularly when he said, “It’s good to hear that American scream!”

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Bassist Josh Finerty fired up attendees by first galloping around the stage, then breaking his bass strap, doing a flip and winding up several times on the ground. But the calisthenics never took away from the music, most of which the band played at a frenetic pace. The absolutely epic “Six Pack” drew Steen out for some stage diving, with Shame absolutely nailing a song that’s fairly complex with its twists and rhythmic turns. “We’re just getting warmed up here, people,” promised Steen, and he spoke the truth. “Adderall” boasted a slower, soaring chorus that featured guitarists Eddie Green and Sean Coyle-Smith.

Drawing attention to Shame’s provenance, Steen led the crowd in a chant that made it clear the band was perfectly happy to be playing rock and roll in Atlanta today rather than attending the coronation of King Charles III. And Shaky Knees was all the luckier for it.

— Matthew W. Smith

Sunflower Bean

There’s a beautiful dichotomy to Sunflower Bean. The New York trio, much like Shaky Knees itself, encompasses both sunshine and darkness.

On Saturday afternoon, the sun was blazing as the band, all dressed in black, began their set.

It was a bit of a false start as the band kicked things off with the title track from their most recent album, “Headful of Sugar.”

“I was having a bit of a technical problem on that,” said bassist and vocalist Julia Cumming, referring to the opening number as their soundcheck.

Credit: Shane Harrison

Credit: Shane Harrison

As guitarist Nick Kivlen would point out later in the set, that album was released exactly one year before the band’s Shaky Knees appearance.

They make an impressive racket. As the set picked up steam, they easily busted out big riffs with echoes of early Nirvana and more than a touch of T. Rex.

But if the band’s love ‘70s glam rock comes through in the big blasts of power-trio guitar-and-bass; “I Was a Fool” is a glorious melding of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie. There’s a clear link to the gorgeous melodies of peak pop Fleetwood Mac in more than a handful of the band’s prettier tunes, including the shivery beauty of “Twentytwo.” That song, from the 2018 album “Twentytwo in Blue,” was the penultimate song of the band’s set. It’s a testament to the song’s sturdy bones — and the steely sweetness of Cumming’s voice — that the live version preserved all of the power of the immaculately produced studio version.

Credit: Shane Harrison

Credit: Shane Harrison

The crowd at Shaky Knees’ smallest stage seemed to embrace Sunflower Bean. The contingent of fans hanging on the barrier at the front of the stage were clearly enthralled. They might have been dwarfed by the hordes drawn by some of the fest’s bigger acts, but Shaky Knees is as much about discovering great, under-appreciated talent as it is about spotlighting established headliners.

“It’s always been my dream to play this festival ever since I heard about it,” Cumming told the crowd at the Criminal Records stage.

It’s a good bet that Sunflower Bean made a few new converts at Shaky Knees.

— Shane Harrison

Babe Rainbow

Even though the sun was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, when Babe Rainbow stepped onto the stage on Saturday afternoon, it was easy to feel is if you were at the beach.

The foursome, who hail from the surfing mecca of Byron Bay, Australia, have a breezy surf rock vibe to match, injected with some 1960s throwback and stoner grooves. The bandmades also looked the part: all had long, sunstreaked blonde hair, and some rocked sunglasses and pastel outfits.

Lead singer Angus Darling, shaking the maracas early in the set, admitted that the group was a little jet-lagged, while also proclaiming his love for White Claw seltzers and McDonald’s.

The crowd didn’t seem to mind. Many shimmied to the dreamy, laid-back tunes, while others apparently partook in other, um, pungent, smoky activities.

— Tamar Hallerman

Futurebirds

The Futurebirds brought local flavor to the Piedmont stage in the late afternoon, playing a piercingly loud roots rock set stacked with a three-guitar attack and a pedal steel guitar player. At various points, the tie-dyed Athens-based band brought to mind late-period Byrds, Mississippi alt-country stalwarts Blue Mountain and the Allman Brothers Band.

“Thanks for being here, y’all!” they said early on, as an enthusiastic crowd bounced a beach ball around. “Put Up, Keep Up” was clearly a favorite, and one of the songs the band recorded in a collaboration with My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel. Also standing out were “My Broken Arm” and “Sinz and Frenz.” The three guitarists took turns singing lead, adding variety to the tight harmonies and crying pedal steel guitar that featured prominently. The group even added a David Bowie cover.

An extended jam dominated the last quarter of The Futurebirds’ appearance, with a post-song reference to “an honor to be here finally,” and disbelief the band was sharing a stage with 311 and Tenacious D. The group finished taking a photo of the crowd, a fitting end given the reception the crowd had offered the local band.

— Matthew W. Smith

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

The Gaslight Anthem

In a shorter-than-expected 40 minute set, New Jersey sextet The Gaslight Anthem delivered the kind of pile-driving rock and roll their fans have come to expect since debut album “Sink or Swim” in 2007. Sporting a bass drum with pictures of Bill Hader and Fred Armisen, the band ripped through a handful of songs that included new single “Positive Change.”

Despite the brevity of the appearance, frontman Brian Fallon had no shortage of jokes and stories, including one (celebrating tonight’s headliner) involving his wife listening to Muse to pump herself up. He also expressed excitement about seeing the Mars Volta later in the day. Joking that the Atlanta crowd was certainly composed of New Jersey Devils fans, he introduced “Howl,” which is played after goals at Devils home games.

The Gaslight Anthem wrapped things up with anthem “The ‘59 Sound,” the perfectly dynamic way to conclude a brisk set. The band’s also working on a full album (their first since 2014′s “Get Hurt”), which hopefully will see them return to Atlanta in the not-too-distant future.

— Matthew W. Smith

Soccer Mommy

Sophie Allison, the Nashville native behind Soccer Mommy, brought her confessional indie rock to Shaky Knees, spellbinding the crowd with her intimate lyrics and stripped-down arrangements.

This wasn’t the soft-spoken 25-year-old’s first time at the festival, but her first since the release of her third studio album, “Sometimes, Forever.” Among the songs she and her band played were the uptempo “Shotgun.”

Soccer Mommy played other crowd favorites from her two previous albums, including “Your Dog” from her 2018 breakthrough “Clean,” which drew an energetic response from the crowd.

She also sang about her truck in “Feel it all the Time” and her mother, who has a terminal illness, with the seven-minute-long “yellow is the color of her eyes.”

— Tamar Hallerman

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

The Mars Volta

Providing a major contrast to most of the day’s performances was El Paso-originated band The Mars Volta, led by guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer/songwriter Cedric Bixler-Zavala. The band’s set was defined not by a series of songs one right after the other but as a collage, an improvisational mood.

Clad in black against a perfect backdrop as the sun returned and then started to dim, the group played “songs” (and there were five or six of them, technically, during the hourlong set — including several from 2005′s “Frances the Mute”) that gradually moved into freeform improvisation.

Alongside Rodriguez-Lopez’s serpentine guitar parts (making heavy use of a wah-wah pedal), other band members contributed jazzy electric piano solos, Latin percussion and shuffling drums. Matching the varying styles of instrumentation was Bixler-Zavala, whose tenor vocals alternately soared, fell to a whisper and then rose to a yell. Though some of the members are new (including drummer Linda-Philomène Tsoungui) and another bassist filled in for original member Eva Gardner, The Mars Volta sounded perfectly in synch with the loose approach taken.

Ultimately, the group defied categorization throughout the set, certainly a major part of the appeal. And while Bixler-Zavala didn’t say much, he did offer a “thank you for your support” in a comment that referred to the band’s return after a long hiatus (part of which included a lot of activity by the main duo’s other group, At the Drive-In). Hopefully, last year’s release by The Mars Volta (a self-titled album) is the first step in a renewed cycle of recording and touring.

— Matthew W. Smith

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Phantogram

Phantogram’s pulsing light show and sojourn through more than a decade’s worth of electric rock hits wasn’t the only thing that kept the crowd talking. It was the buzz surrounding a surprise guest.

Big Boi’s cameo was the talk of the evening after he joined the New York-based duo for two songs at the end of their set. It was the second time in two nights that he appeared at the festival. (The OutKast alum also performed with fellow Atlanta rapper Killer Mike on Friday, filling in for Manchester Orchestra.)

Big Boi collaborated with Phantogram on 2015′s “Big Grams.” From the album, they performed the single “Fell in the Sun,” with Big Boi’s rhymes transitioning seamlessly into Sarah Barthel’s smooth melodies over a head-bopping beat.

The collaboration came at the end of Phantogram’s hourlong set, which included hits from throughout the band’s career, including “Black Out Days,” “Don’t Move” and “When I’m Small.” Barthel spun around the stage, swishing her red hair as her musical partner Josh Carter worked from behind a synthesizer.

“You know we’re in Atlanta, so … our best buddy” must make an appearance, Barthel said as she introduced Big Boi.

— Tamar Hallerman

Tenacious D

As darkness fell on the Piedmont Stage, an enormous crowd converged to see Tenacious D, the dynamic duo of singers/guitarists/comedians Jack Black and Kyle Gass (or Jables and Kage, in intra-band terminology). Taking the stage to operatic walk-on music, the D — along with a drummer, bassist and lead guitarist — opened with the saga “Kickapoo,” a song released on the group’s second album in 2006. In addition to their regular parts, Black and Gass covered the vocal parts of the late Ronnie James Dio and the late Meat Loaf, respectively, who contributed to the original recording.

Black asked the crowd if their knees were beginning to shake as he led the band through a spirited version of “Rize of the Fenix” and two gems from their 2001 debut, “Wonderboy” and “Tribute.” After some jokes about their roadie Biffy Pyro (a nod to Scottish band and Shaky Knees 2022 performers Biffy Clyro) failing to set off pyrotechnics on time, behind them a huge devil stage prop appeared, magnificent enough to make Spinal Tap blush. This was the first show on what the D calls its Spicy Meatball tour, and the pair unveiled the country-style romp “Video Games,” making its live debut.

The usual mock fight saw Gass exit the stage, leaving Black (via his impressive falsetto) to croon a solo “Dude (I Totally Miss You)” and then, once Gass returned, a brief cover of the Chris Isaac classic “Wicked Game.” The roadie and spicy meatball jokes continued, and the crowd reveled in all of it. While they did forgo the Jack White-produced fan favorite “Don’t Blow It, Kage,” Tenacious D did find the right balance of songs, jokes and audience banter to make for a memorable performance.

— Matthew W. Smith

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Muse

As festivalgoers walked down the hill toward the Peachtree stage after Tenacious D wrapped up, the tone shifted from the comical bombast of the D to the truly theatrical bombast of English megastars Muse.

The trio’s performance had it all. Pyrotechnics? Check. The band wearing masks for the first song? Check. Streamers shot into the crowd? Check. Costume changes from frontman Matt Bellamy? Check. Full video treatments of certain songs? Check. And the pièce de résistance? A scarcely believably giant masked, moving figure lurking ominously behind the band; frankly, it made Tenacious D’s devil look like Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge monument.

New album title track “Will of the People” kicked off a fast moving set, with Muse taking full advantage of its hour and a half on stage and keeping the small talk to a minimum. Bellamy did offer a “How’s it going, Atlanta?” but otherwise let the music sit alongside the theatrics.

Singer/guitarist Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, drummer Dominic Howard and touring keyboard player Dan Lancaster were airtight, moving from song to song absolutely seamlessly. The new wave, synth-heavy “Compliance” was a particular standout, as the packed crowd clapped along in a frenzy. Muse classic “Starlight” wrapped up the main set, giving way to the inevitable encore. “Kill or Be Killed” and “Knights of Cydonia” (with Bellamy’s guitar sounding like an angry hornet) both had the audience singing along, and were natural closers for a set with its media — sounds and sights — orchestrated to a tee.

The Shaky Knees faithful left Central Park on a high, going home to rest for the festival’s final day.

Certainly one reason for Muse soaring through its set in the way that it did was the fact that, as Bellamy noted, this was the last U.S. date on their current run of shows. The Will of the People tour has seen the band play everywhere from Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport to the Jim Beam distillery. The current album is the band’s seventh straight UK No. 1, and on current form there’s no reason to believe they won’t make it eight straight whenever they choose to write and record another set of songs.

— Matthew W. Smith

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher