Shaky Knees Music Festival kicked off its seventh annual installment on Friday in Atlanta’s Central Park, boasting an impressive day-one lineup of artists including Beck, Incubus, Tears For Fears, Sharon Van Etten, IDLES, and many more. Keep reading for further insights into our favorite performances of the day, and stay tuned for additional coverage of days two and three!

Check out our SK19 Day 2 Highlights & Photos Here

Check out our SK19 Day 3 Highlights & Photos Here

Songs For Kids

Shaky Knees opened as it has for several years now with Songs For Kids taking over the main stage just before noon. For those who don’t know, the Songs For Kids Foundation provides creative opportunities to kids battling serious illness by encouraging them to express themselves through music, and attendees arriving early to the festival were treated to inspired performances by several of the young artists.

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (iDKHOW)

At just after noon on Friday, atop the hill of the Piedmont stage, Salt Lake City duo, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, made their Atlanta debut with the self-deprecating tune, “Nobody Likes The Opening Band.” The 80s-inspired indie pop project of Dallon Weekes (formerly of Panic! At The Disco) and Ryan Seaman (formerly of Falling In Reverse) set weekend expectations high with their energetic performance, unabashedly covering Beck’s “Debra” just hours before the man himself took the Shaky stage. And after they closed their short set with the oh-so-catchy single, “Choke,” we’ve definitely decided to keep our eyes on this band.

Low Cut Connie

Just across the street from the Criminal Records grove was the Ponce De Leon stage, where Low Cut Connie seemed determined to leave their mark on the festival—and they certainly did. Frontman Adam Weiner, internationally known for his wild showmanship, was all over the stage and in the crowd, peacocking as only an expert rocker can. “I need you to do one thing,” he implored the crowd, “and that’s just do what you feel!” While the band rocked on, Weiner lovingly abused his piano, “Nellie,” the sister instrument to his beloved “Shondra”, which he named after a dancer at the Clermont Lounge, just a mile down the street from Central Park. The crowd roared throughout, basking in the pure rock and roll brilliance of the performance, and when the Philadelphia outfit launched into their final number, a rollicking adaptation of Prince’s “Controversy,” we all nearly lost it.

IDLES

Leading up to the festival weekend, the buzz around English rock band IDLESwas only rivaled by big headline names like Tame Impala. 2017 saw the release of their well-received debut, Brutalism, which was quickly followed by one of the most critically-acclaimed albums from last year, Joy as an Act of Resistance—and so expectations were high when the outfit took the stage early Friday afternoon. In fact, the tone was set from the second the band walked on stage, as lead guitarist Mark Bowen strolled out wearing nothing but black boxer briefs and a beaten-up pair of white Chucks.

“Heel/Heal” was the choice opener, an up-tempo banger that showcased lead vocalist Joe Talbot’s guttural voice. This was followed by the aggressive fan-favorite, “Never Fight A Man With A Perm,” and then “Love Song,” which Talbot dedicated to the city of Atlanta.

Despite the harsh tone of their music, many of IDLES’s songs seem to address modern social issues from the perspective of someone who values decency, and this was never more clear than in their performance of “Danny Nedelko,” an anthem which begins with the verse, “My blood brother is an immigrant / A beautiful immigrant.” As Talbot and everyone there sang the chorus: “Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain / Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate,” Bowen literally walked out onto the crowd with his microphone to lead the chant of the song’s climax. Spectacular.

Oh Sees

The late-afternoon set by Oh Sees was one of the best and most dynamic of the weekend. Festival-goers packed into the tent at the Ponce De Leon stage and overflowed into the parking lot to see the veteran California rockers do their thing. Oh Sees (f.k.a. Thee Oh Sees, OCS, etc.) are known for their multitude of styles, from psychedelic and garage sounds to the punk core that seems to power their electrifying live performances. With two drummers and screaming guitars and vocals, they induced the crowd into what might best be described as a glorious hour of sensory overload with a side of temporary synesthesia. The energy was like something out of a scene from Scott Pilgrim. It lifted some of the braver souls up and onto the out-reached hands of their brethren as the band navigated through a collection of songs spanning the last decade. There was everything from “I Come From The Mountain” to the more recent “Sentient Oona” off 2018’s Smote Reverser, and finally concluding with the epic squealer, “Contraption/Soul Desert.”

Tears For Fears

Tears For Fears played to a massive audience of all ages just after sunset on the Piedmont stage. The new wave icons began their show before even taking the stage, building major hype by blasting the full recording of Lorde’s cover of their 1985 hit single, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” The buildup was so intense that by the time Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith came out to perform the full version of the song, the crowd erupted into the loudest and most joyful cheers heard all day—there wasn’t a person on that hill without a smile on their face.

Shaky Knees has really nailed the legacy acts in recent years, with David Byrne and Huey Lewis and the News both having played spectacular sets at the festival, and Tears For Fears this past weekend was no exception. The original duo, with help from their backing band, continued to delight us with classics like “Sowing the Seeds of Love” and “Change.” They even mixed it up with a fantastic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Then the band gave nod to their younger spectators by playing staples, “Head Over Heels / Broken” and “Mad World,” which were both featured in the 2001 cult classic, Donnie Darko. The magical hour ended on an extended crowd singalong of “Shout,” with the illuminated Atlanta skyline as the backdrop.

Beck

Alternative rock legend Beck walked out onto the main stage right around 9:30 Friday night to headline the first day of Shaky Knees 2019. Like a modern-day Johnny Cash, he was dressed from hat to boots in black, and immediately launched into funky classic, “Devil’s Haircut,” off 1996’s Grammy Award-winning album, Odelay.The baseball diamond in front of the stage was filled to the brim with thousands dancing along, and thousands more reminiscing on their halcyon days of slackerdom.

Beck kept the mood going strong throughout the first half of the set, playing favorites like “Loser,” “Black Tambourine,” “The New Pollution,” and “Wow”—the last of which may have been accompanied by some of the most trippy and Beck-appropriate stage projections that could ever be conceived.

Most of the band took a break about halfway through to allow for an acoustic set which featured only Beck and a couple of female vocalists that he dubbed “The B-53s.” It was refreshing to hear a few quieter songs like “Lost Cause” and “Blue Moon” in this setting.

The band eventually returned to close out the main set with a fully-charged version of “E-Pro.” Then shortly returned once more for an extended “Where It’s At” themed encore, featuring full band member introductions and nods to songs from Chic, The Rolling Stones, New Order, Talking Heads, and Phil Collins. Beck himself also made room for a shortened harmonica solo of his new single, “Saw Lightning,” before he and the band ended the medley where it had begun. ~ Written by Kyler McCoy

Check out photos from Shaky Knees Music Festival 2019, Friday Day 1 by Mike Gerry: