Live Music Louisville

We, of course, check out what other blogs/websites have to say about their experiences and for the most part, we match up on a couple of points: Florence Welch is an incredibly dynamic performer, that Saturday night Jacket set was off the charts, and the festival as a whole has retained its individual Atlanta spirit. Shaky Knees has similar beginnings to our own hometown festival and it seems to have retained some of the same appeal that Forecastle has for music fans around the region. Maybe that is part of the logic behind us returning year after year.

Here are some of our other major take-aways:

The Shaky Bridge of Death

A fourth year and a fourth location. Of the three locations that we’ve experienced, for the most part, this was maybe our favorite. The stages were well set up, there were some shady options, lots of green space and all of the amenities (especially clean, short lined ones if you know where to look). The only downside – THAT BRIDGE. The two major spaces were separated by a major street in downtown Atlanta that apparently could not be shut down for the weekend. So the result? We walked across this rickety, single file bridge several times a day. We only had to stand in one real bottle neck line but it happened at several times throughout the weekend. Next year, hopefully Atlanta and the festival can be on the same page so we can avoid this altogether.

Shaky fans show up again

Shaky Knees has a certain type of clientele that really sets it apart from other festivals – it is a festival for fans of indie alternative rock and roll, not just the hot sound of the moment. We have made the observations that many festivals have become overrun with young, spritely (and usually severely under-dressed) kids who use the all-ages environment as the opportunity to see some live music. Nothing wrong with that, really. But Shaky Knees is still attracting droves of humans ecstatic about seeing and experiencing what each year’s lineup has to offer.

We sang A LOT

Brittany made fun of me for starring in pretty much all of her Snap stories. There is a lot of truth to that sentiment. Ranging from The Head and The Heart to Silversun Pickups to Shaky Graves to The Decemberists, and especially Florence + The Machine, each band played sets that the fans wanted to hear. That environment makes for such a glorious weekend.

Louisville looked good in ATL

Twin Limb, Murder By Death, Houndmouth, and My Morning Jacket all gave the Georgia crowd what we have come to expect from them. We had a good feeling about a Jim James appearance at the Twin Limb set (after his presence at their Iroquois sets Thursday/Friday, it only made sense). In retrospect, maybe we should have sent out some Louisville-only knowledge via social media, but oh well. Twin Limb is really sounding great, though, and their timing couldn’t be better – they’ve got a string of festival appearances this summer that will hopefully get the word out about them. We went into our first post-Katie Houndmouth set with a little apprehension, but walked away just as reassured as always. Though it is hard to say they aren’t missing Katie’s voice and persona, the guys still sounded and looked good. We were particularly impressed with the vibe of their new stuff and look forward to whenever we get to officially hear more of it. For the most part, we avoided our late arrival trend and got downtown pretty early, but we did miss the Murder By Death set. No worries, though – we caught Adam and Sarah at Rye’s first Back Porch Session, which was nothing short of fantastic. And we finish with Jacket’s Saturday closing set. Holy mackerel. We feel pretty lucky to have seen the guys twice in three days. If anyone did all three, BLESS YOU. Not that MMJ needs any of the theatrics, but we got fireworks, confetti – the whole deal Saturday night.

Who’s coming to town soon?

6/3 – Twin Limb @ The Cure Lounge

6/3-5 – Foxing, The Dear Hunter, LANY, The Shelters @ Bunbury Music Festival

7/15-17 – Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Walk The Moon, Phosphorescent, Shakey Graves, All Them Witches, Saintseneca, Alex G, Nothing, Caveman @ Forecastle

7/20 – Savages @ Mercury Ballroom

7/27 – Kaleo @ Waterfront Wednesday

9/11 – Explosions in the Sky @ Iroquois Amphitheater

-Aubrey & Brittany