The Mountain Goats at Shaky Knees, Atlanta, May 8, 2015

Thing everybody walked by during Shaky Knees, but of which no one (else) took a picture.

One for the bucket list: during Shaky Knees 2015, I finally got to see the legendary Mountain Goats.

After Mac DeMarco, one had to choose between Manchester Orchestra and Kaiser Chiefs, and after that, one had an even more difficult decision - TV On The Radio, Death From Above 1979, or The Mountain Goats.  I had not seen any of those bands (other than Manchester Orchestra, during Music Midtown 2011), but after much soul searching, I decided to go with The Mountain Goats.  I regretted having to pass on TV On the Radio and further, to get a good position near the stage (I was pretty far back for Wavves and Mac DeMarco), I decided to go wait under the tent at the Buford Highway Stage through the Manchester/Kaiser set for The Mountain Goats to take the stage. 

My strategy worked fairly well, although a large number of people apparently had decided the same thing and were already seated on the ground in front of the stage to pass the hour until The Mountain Goats performed. Still, we were out of the relentless sun and off of our feet for a while, and had a chance, the first since getting here almost 5 hours earlier, to relax for a bit.

The Mountain Goats took the stage at 6:15 sharp.  Their new album, Beat The Champ, is about professional wrestlers and before they took the stage, they played a tape of pro wrestler Nature Boy Ric Flair bragging about himself and putting down competing wrestlers, the kind of pre-bout trash talk that precedes a wrestling match.  A great number of wrestlers now live in Atlanta, since it's home to TBS which televised their bouts for years, and I more than half-expected Flair himself to come on stage and introduce the band.  But, alas, the set featured no actual wrestlers, and I think the band missed an opportunity for a one-of-a-kind performance featuring the actual men they sang about on stage. 

I was surprised at how energetic and, well, happy John Darnielle was on stage.  Somehow, perhaps due to the tone of many of his songs, I expected a dour introvert to take the stage, but Darnielle was up and jumping around, leading the audience in singalongs and hand-clapping and generally being a first-class showman. I was also surprised that despite all the energy, both he and his bass player kept their jackets on throughout their set on the 90-degree afternoon.

Their set included songs from the new Beat The Champ, naturally, but also from throughout their entire career, much to the delight of the audience.  Highlights included Cry for Judas, Cubs In Five, and No Children, as well as This Year (above).  Darnielle and company played for a full hour, including three or four songs by Darnielle alone on stage, and they seemed like they were capable of playing for another full hour.  At the end of the set, the audience called for "one more song" over and over, but due to the conventions of a festival and the need to keep everything on time, there would be no encore.  Instead, we all scurried off to the next stage for the next set by the next performer.