Fans flock to Shaky Knees for Nine Inch Nails, more stellar music on Day 2

Highlights from Day 2:

Chastity Belt

“We’re super happy to be here, what a beautiful day!” announced Chastity Belt bassist Annie Truscott after the group took to the stage following a brief soundcheck on Saturday.

The Walla Walla, Washington, quartet drew a sizable crowd for its early set on a mostly sunny second day at Shaky Knees.

Playing melodic, mid-tempo indie rock drawing on four albums to date (plus a brand new unnamed tune “just for your ears”), the band highlighted its versatility and frequent hypnotic instrumental passages throughout 45 minutes on stage. For one song, singer/guitarist Julia Shapiro and drummer Gretchen Grimm switched places. Later, lead guitarist Lydia Lund sang lead vocals on the penultimate performance.

“It’s nice to be back in Atlanta — it’s been a little while,” acknowledged Truscott between songs, as band members noted their excitement at seeing Nine Inch Nails later in the evening.

The highlight of the set was “Time To Go Home,” which started slow and spacy and then sped up at various intervals as Shapiro sang, “I just wanna have a good time/I hope you have a strong heart.”

“Thank you, have fun!” yelled Truscott as Chastity Belt wrapped up. The band has a Shaky Knees 2022 connection to fellow Saturday performer Kurt Vile, as they made an appearance on his most recent album with the Violators and will be touring with him later this year.

Guided by Voices

Cranked up, tight, fast and loud.

A blistering set from Dayton, Ohio, indie rock stalwarts Guided by Voices was an afternoon highlight at the festival. The almost ludicrously prolific (35 albums and counting) five-piece pulled songs from across its discography for a performance high on riffs and low on small talk.

Frontman Robert Pollard, decked out in black, announced “we’re Guided by Voices, and so are you” to the crowd as the band kicked things off. Early highlights included “Haircut Sphinx” and new single “Alex Bell,” a thundering nod to Big Star members Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, both of whom are deceased.

Pollard acknowledged the fact that a 45-minute set is a tough ask for a group whose regular shows are legendarily lengthy, introducing most songs with a lightning-fast, Ramones-style “2-3-hit it!” The audience scarcely had time to react.

The band played “Climbing a Ramp” from most recent album “Crystal Nuns Cathedral,” and its slower but heavy style went over well with the crowd and featured a solo from guitarist Doug Gillard.

Pollard noted they were playing “all the hits we should have had,” as the second half of the set included “The Rally Boys,” “I Am a Scientist” and also “The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory,” from the band’s lo-fi classic “Bee Thousand.”

Without question the highlights were performances of two of the catchiest songs by a group that has, legitimately, hundreds of them. “Teenage FBI” found Pollard at the top of his range, and closer “Glad Girls” (from 2001′s “Isolation Drills”) sounded phenomenal, a hit single in an alternate universe.

Almost as quickly as they had bounced from song to song, Guided by Voices left the stage without a word but with the audience (and their amplifiers) still buzzing.

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Phantom Planet

Los Angeles group Phantom Planet, who resumed performing in 2019 after a hiatus that took up almost a decade (save for the odd show or two), drew a huge crowd at the Criminal Records stage in the late afternoon.

The group kicked things off with a pair of songs from their garage-y self-titled album (2004), “The Happy Ending” and “1st Things 1st.” Guitarists Alex Greenwald and Darren Robinson, both playing Gibson SGs, traded snappy licks through the fast opening.

Thanking everyone for being there, Greenwald let the band into the slower, melodic “Always On My Mind” from 2002′s “The Guest.” Between songs he expressed his enthusiasm for being there: “How are you all doing out there? It’s so nice to be around people again.” Realizing he was straying close to sentimentality, he summed up with “less talk, more rock” as Phantom Planet jumped back into the set.

2008′s “Geronimo” was a pounding highlight, while “Dropped” featured fantastic harmony vocals from Robinson. Probably the slowest song in set, “Time Moves On” from most recent album “Devastator,” showcased Greenwald’s vocal strengths.

Asking attendees to “give yourselves a round of applause,” he launched the band into frenetic signature song “Big Brat,” a hooky stomp from their self-titled album that includes multiple members yelling “you’re always up to no good!” on the choruses.

The anthemic “California” closed the set, with hundreds of phones aloft to capture Phantom Planet playing the song known especially as the theme song to early oughts TV show “The O.C.” Greenwald asked for an audience singalong and was not denied.

Festivalgoer Ryan Wallace, from Newark, Delaware, and making his first visit to Atlanta, was thrilled to finally see the band after years of being a fan. “They’re one of my bucket list bands, and I’ve listened to them since ‘The Guest,’” he noted. “It’s cool to see how they’ve grown and how they can play the heavier stuff and the light stuff.”

Mt. Joy

One of the newest bands at Shaky Knees, Mt. Joy formed in 2016 but did play the festival back in 2018. Based in Los Angeles and with Philadelphia roots, the five-piece played a well-received, rootsy set on the Peachtree stage as clouds rolled in.

Piano player Jackie Miclau shined early with a rollicking approach, and singer/guitarist Matt Quinn told the crowd, “We’re very, very excited to be here — let’s have some fun.” An early highlight was the acoustic guitar-guided “Astrovan,” complete with a light show that looked dazzling even in the afternoon (and even as raindrops began to fall).

Mt. Joy spent a good portion of the appearance jamming, not least on a noodling cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Fire On The Mountain.” A softball game broke out out on the field behind the crowd as the song progressed, lending a family feeling to the proceedings.

The title track from upcoming record “Orange Blood” went over particularly well with the crowd. Its lush, atmospheric tones benefitted from Sam Cooper’s slide guitar. “Evergreen,” soon to be a single, is a punchy, up-tempo song that contrasted with much of the laid-back nature of the rest of the set. The band played another extended piece that included portions of both “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley.

Wrapping up the set as the clouds thankfully lost their fight with the sun, Quinn promised the crowd, “We’ll be back in the fall,” ostensibly to support “Orange Blood.”

Kurt Vile & The Violators

Philadelphia’s Kurt Vile has released eight albums on his own or with band The Violators, alongside one with Courtney Barnett. The most recent is “Watch My Moves,” released just two weeks ago (and including one collaboration with Chastity Belt). A screen at the back of the stage featured the new album.

A packed crowd welcomed him to the Piedmont stage, and he told those gathered “I love you” as the band tuned up and checked microphone levels. The set was groove heavy and featured plenty of guitar solos — but not much audience interaction — from Vile.

“Bassackwards” from 2018′s “Bottle It In” was the standout performance, with meandering passages and Vile’s relaxed vocal style. The Violators — Rob Laakso, Kyle Spence, Jesse Trbovich and Adam Langelotti — provided a minimalist but impressive backdrop to Vile’s playing and singing.

The singer/songwriter played both electric and acoustic guitar during his performance, at one point switching to a piano mid song (and mid extended jam). The positive reaction did elicit one “you’re all so beautiful” from Vile.

His best known song, “Pretty Pimping,” thrilled a crowd that was clearly anticipating the penultimate performance. Vile and the band wrapped up with the brand new “Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone),” a perfect way to end an easygoing set.

Chvrches

Scottish electro indie pop group Chvrches dazzled the Shaky Knees faithful with an energetic set drawing from much of its history, with particular emphasis on most recent albums “Love Is Dead” and last year’s “Screen Violence.”

“Hello, we are a band called Chvrches. Thank you very much for coming to see us!” announced frontwoman Lauren Mayberry after opener “He Said She Said.” Mayberry twirled around on “Forever,” and an early highlight was “Leave a Trace,” with Mayberry’s soaring soprano getting the crowd clapping.

Iain Cook and Martin Doherty jumped between guitar/bass and synthesizers/samples as they moved from new to old material and back. More recent songs feature more guitar, with a potent example being “Final Girl” from “Screen Violence.” Touring member Jonny Scott wrangled the rhythm from behind his drum kit.

Noting she was thrilled to be seeing Japanese Breakfast and Nine Inch Nails perform after the Chvrches performance, Mayberry asserted, “We’re gonna play as much as possible and talk not much.” A huge video screen behind the Glaswegians featured red and blue bursts for the pounding, pulsating “Bury It,” a track from second album “Every Open Eye” that features backing vocals from Doherty.

Much darker was “Miracle,” with its swirling orchestral synths. After a slight wardrobe fix from Mayberry, the mid-tempo, joyous “Never Say Die” had the crowd singing along. The sun started to descend as the song rolled out in a long synthesizer wave.

Driving guitar from Doherty fueled recent track “Asking For a Friend,” while the band’s next to last song — another standout in the performance — is the one that truly launched them back in 2012, “The Mother We Share.”

Promising “we’ll see you again soon,” the trio wrapped up with 2015′s “Clearest Blue,” clearly a crowd favorite and a dynamic ending to one of Saturday’s best sets, start to finish.

Nine Inch Nails

Industrial and alternative legends Nine Inch Nails delivered a hotly anticipated headlining performance at Shaky Knees on Saturday night.

It was just their second performance (after playing in Raleigh Thursday night) in four years, a fact highlighted by leader Trent Reznor in one of his brief notes to the raucous crowd. “Hey man, we’re happy to be here,” he said with obvious sincerity, drawing attention to his hope that everyone was safe and that the pandemic was now such that people could be out and about to listen to music.

Long a one-person group with a cast of top-notch musicians in its live incarnation, Nine Inch Nails doubled in 2016 with the official addition of Atticus Ross to the lineup. Joining the duo onstage were Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini and Ilan Rubin, playing with precision and often punishing power.

Pounding opener “Mr. Self Destruct” (from 1994) captured all ears and then eyes once huge strobe lights flashed throughout the chorus and visuals bounced across multiple video screens. The 1992 single “Wish” benefitted from the band’s muscular force, while “Less Than” featured motorik synthesizer sounds and one of Reznor’s top vocal performances of the night.

After a brief “all right, how are you?” the singer prowled the stage as stop/start electricity and audience clapping drove “March of the Pigs.” A piano interlude ushered in slow-burning “The Wretched,” which exploded when it reached the chorus as Reznor screamed: “Now you know/this is what it feels like.”

Promising a mix of old and new, the band picked up the pace with the dance-y, propulsive electro “Sin” and then classic hit “Closer,” which got a particularly big response from the crowd. A major highlight was “Copy of a,” which rode along on a disco beat with call and response vocals. The brooding, bass-heavy “Burn” was carried out by a lacerating guitar part from Finck.

Reznor mostly just sang, but also played guitar on lightning-fast, catchy “The Perfect Drug.” He introduced cover song “I’m Afraid of Americans” by acknowledging, “As you may know, it’s mandatory we play a song by Bowie.” It was the perfect nod to the late singer’s influence on the band and the tour they did together in 1995.

Relentless drums stood out on “The Hand That Feeds.” A hypnotic keyboard part weaved in and out as Reznor sang, “Will you bite the hand that feeds?” With the set moving closer to completion, the group launched into “Head Like a Hole,” the second single from 1989 debut album “Pretty Hate Machine.” The song has lost none of its dynamism or intensity over the decades, and virtually everyone in the crowd screamed along with the chorus (“Head like a hole/black as your soul/I’d rather die/than give you control”).

Nine Inch Nails wrapped up Saturday’s festivities the only way they could, performing 1995 single “Hurt” in a stripped-down form that began with accompaniment from piano and acoustic guitar only. In that sense, it gave a sonic nod to the revered cover of the song by the late Johnny Cash. Drums did come in later as Reznor’s vocals went up an octave, and the crowd roared its appreciation after respectful near-silence at the beginning of the song.

With a simple “thank you very much” from Reznor to the festivalgoers at the conclusion of “Hurt,” the band left the stage and appreciative attendees began the slow and steady stream out of Central Park at the conclusion of Day 2 of the Shaky Knees Festival.