The Shake Day 3

Instagram trends:

The laying down photo – A: This is really not a flattering pose for anyone with any body fat whatsoever. B: Britt was asked to take this for a group of girls and obv failed because they tried to recreate it for 15 min afterward…whoops).
“Living the life” slash “I’m so fucking cool” slash “Look how not sweaty I am” – Obviously so posed but like so many people were doing it. #badsweatyselfiesforever

The grounds part 2:

In general we liked this year’s layout purely for movement purposes. That being said, the close quarters did lead to some issues. With fewer stages, that meant many of the sets overlapped by about a half hour or so. From the Ponce de Leon Stage and Piedmont Stage you could fully hear the other sets simultaneously going on. On Sunday, in particular, we heard a couple of bands comment on it.

Also, the sound at the ginormous Peachtree Stage was not ideal. There was a deaf spot on the left side, the right side was generally pretty bass-y and some sets were just entirely too quiet.

Shaky Knees 2017 (📸: aLIVE Coverage)

The bands:

Well we only heard Hoops‘ last song and the Indiana call out but that bit did sound like what I was expecting: good shit. Be on the lookout for these guys for sure.
Whitney definitely is a teen girl dream boat, but the falsetto and quirky dudes is appealing to us older women as well. They played a brand new song without a real title, “Willing Blackouts” is the working name right now, which points towards a new record of some sort. Also, they casually introduced us to this YouTube sensation involving German goth dancing? I think this is what they are referencing.
Sunday was only a slight struggle for us, this year. Hamilton Leithauser came at the perfect time for sitting/laying down and soaking up some rays, but that dried Bermuda grass stuck EVERYWHERE. Cue Aubrey’s comment, “It doesn’t matter, I just love his voice so much.”
We totally forgout about our first Arkells experience a few years back (they opened for Tokyo Police Club at New Vintage and we loved it). But, hello again, that was quite fun! The Ponce de Leon Stage was packed and into everything going on. They are still working on their US presence, but they are certainly loved in Canada. Like many topics right now, get on the right page, America.
J Roddy and crew fuckin rocked it per usual. But, why so many clothes?! It was a toasty day and that many layers + all that hair made me sweat just watching. Also, when should we expect a new album? It has been a minute.

Hamilton Leithauser (📸: aLIVE Coverage)

J Roddy (📸: aLIVE Coverage)

Whitney (📸: aLIVE Coverage)

Arkells (📸: aLIVE Coverage)

Warpaint was everything, as I predicted – mama likey. However, standing there watching four supreme female musicians tear up their set made me think…where the fuck are the ladies on this lineup? Literally, 5 female fronted bands is it?! That needs to be better.
Third Eye Blind is apparently a recent favorite of 16 year olds. The number of high schoolers we saw dancing around was astonishing.
Ron Gallo’s snarky comments/lyrics were cracking everyone the f*ck up and they were rocking the f*ck out. Also, the last couple weeks of June they’ll be out touring with White Reaper. Jealous AF if you’re able to catch one of those shows.
Bleachers had the terrible luck of sound tech problems (throwback to Shakey Graves a year ago), but they tried to make it work with some initial banter about Third Eye Blind and a very stripped down first song. They bounced back immediately, intently jamming through the rest of their set.
No one – repeat, NO ONE – should have to hear us sing, esp. since we make up half the words anyway. Why so quiet, The Shins????
Okay, we admit it. We were part of the crowd that was heading to the Piedmont Stage when Ryan Adams announced that his band was “new-material Shins” but we have seen RA countless times, so I don’t feel too bad about it. That being said, the. man. can. shred. And sing. And write.
Unfortunately we had nighttime flights and couldn’t be there for Phoenix, but COS raved about it, and we trust their opinion.