The most obvious thing about Shaky Knees 2015 is that, unlike the previous two years, it didn't rain. During the inaugural 2013 event, it rained almost non-stop on the first day, and although Day Two started out sunny, the rain eventually came and stayed, turning the Old Fourth Ward Historic Park into a sea of mud. Things were a little bit better in Year Two (2014) when the festival moved to Atlantic Station and expanded to three days, and heavy rains fell "only" during the first two evenings. But the third day of the second year was hot and sunny, and baked the audience on the shadeless Atlantic Station parking lot as if they were on a frying pan.
But this year the weather held out. Sure it was hot and sunny again, but this time the festival moved yet a third time, now to Central Park behind the Civic Center. By adding the Civic Center's parking lot to the grounds, the festival finally provided enough space for five full stages (even one with a tent to provide some shelter from the sun), allowed the audience to spread out a little bit, and even had room for some people to just chill out in the shade.
I took MARTA to the new Shaky Knees grounds this year, and was a little surprised at how far a walk it was from the North Avenue Station to the festival entrance, Okay, it was only a little over a half mile, but it was a hilly half mile and it seemed even further on the way back, as the return walk was mostly all uphill.
There were no lines when I arrived at the festival grounds, and it was not a hassle to exchange my ticket for the festival wristband. I breezed through the entrance and security and found myself on the open field of Central Park before most of the crowd had arrived.
Bonus points for great views of Midtown Atlanta's skyscrapers throughout the festivities.
It was about that time that Florida's Surfer Blood started their set on the Peachtree Stage (like at previous Shaky Knees, the stages were all named for Atlanta streets - Peachtree, Piedmont, Boulevard, Ponce de Leon, and Buford Highway).
The band has seen its share of controversy and tragedy, including singer John Paul Pitt's arrest record (charges were eventually dropped) and most recently guitarist Tom Fekete's disclosure that an abdominal sarcoma had spread to his lungs and spine. The band has already played several benefits for Fekete, and a GoFundMe page for his medical expenses has raised over $82,000 against a goal of $120,000. Surfer Blood's latest album, 1,000 Palms, was released today, but Fekete will be unable to join the band on tour in support of the new album as he battles the cancer.
Fekete obviously wasn't at Shaky Knees with the rest of the band, but Pitts and company seemed in good spirits and managed to maintain the party-ready Surfer Blood sound in his absence.
Speaking of parties, we've seen Surfer Blood before, at the totally awesome Marmoset day party during the 2013 MFNW (RIP). Pitts jumped into the audience during the rowdy set and posed for selfies with the crowd as he continued with his song.
At Shaky Knees, Surfer Blood opened their set with the song Floating Vibes before kicking into Weird Shapes (above). After that, I get a bit confused, but do recall hearing Swim somewhere in their set (I don't recall whether they played Twin Peaks or not, though).
Fun, familiar tunes on a sunny afternoon - a great way to start off a day, but at this point, I've managed to cover only the first 30 minutes of a three-day festival. Geographically, I haven't yet ventured further than 100 yards from the North Avenue entrance to the main Peachtree Stage where Surfer Blood was playing. I'm either going to have to pick up the pace here, or this is going to be a very long retrospective.
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