The Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, marks one of the first festivals of the season, and, to be honest, we’d have a hard time thinking of a better way for things to get to a start. The lineup is absolutely killer, and the change of venue this year to Atlantic Station basically guarantees this will be a fest we’ll remember for a long time. In order to help prepare ourselves (and you readers), we’ve put together our “Absolutely Cannot Miss” shows for the weekend. Yesterday, we gave you our top seven acts for Friday, and we’re back today with our most anticipated shows for Saturday, May 10. If you like what you read and you haven’t yet picked up a ticket, they’re still available here, but in order to convince yourself a little more before you drop that $169, why not check out who we’re excited to see below.
MODEST MOUSE
@ Peachtree Stage | 9:30 PM – 11:00 PM
If you’re going to this festival and haven’t made plans to see Modest Mouse, well, frankly we just don’t understand that. Despite the fact that Modest Mouse have been playing together since 1993, the eclectic band like to take time between their tours and albums to really make sure that they get things right. What this means is that fans often have to wait several years before hearing anything from these indie rockers, but that when they do decide to play around a bit or drop some new tunes, they are almost always spectacular. Modest Mouse are Saturday night’s headliner, which means nothing else will be going on during their performance, so why not stop by the Peachtree Stage and pay your respects to one of the most influential indie rock bands of the last two decades. Below, we’ve got the video for “Dramamine,” which is actually one of Modest Mouse’s older tracks, but it’s been a personal favorite of ours for a number of years now.
PORTUGAL. THE MAN
@ Piedmont Stage | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Portugal. The Man are, without a doubt, our favorite Alaskan indie rockers, though, in all honesty, we’d be a bit hard-pressed to think of another act from Wasilla, Alaska off the top of our head. Currently a five-piece, the group started playing together back in 2004 and were headlining tours across the US by 2007. However, it wasn’t until the 2009 release of The Satanic Satanist that the band really started to turn heads. By the time their last two studio efforts rolled out, Portugal were consistently charting. Their most recent record, Evil Friends, is a phenomenal effort in the indie rock/psychedelia space. Songs like “Modern Jesus” (which we’ve got embedded below for you) is both danceable and thoughtful, which is a pretty difficult juxtaposition to create. These guys are already close to the top, and we’re excited to see where they go from here.
SPOON
@ Centerstage | 12:30 AM – 2:00 AM
If you know anything about Spoon, it’s probably that this band plays a ton. Every time this quintet releases new music, they try to play as many shows as possible, which often include playing the same city a number of times (they’ve played their hometown, Austin, ten times since their last album release). It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that Spoon is actually playing two sets at Shaky Knees this year. The one we’ve highlighted here is a late night set over at Centerstage, but they’ll also be playing the Piedmont Stage on Friday, May 9th, from 8 pm – 9:15 pm. Oh yeah, and if that’s still not enough Spoon for you, they’ll be here in Music City on May 8th to play a show with Blank Range at Marathon. Yes, that’s right: you could potentially see Spoon play three nights in a row. We told you they play around a lot.
TOKYO POLICE CLUB
@ Peachtree Stage | 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Not to be outdone by fellow indie rockers Spoon, Canadian rockers Tokyo Police Club will also be playing two sets at Shaky Knees. The first of these shows will take place on the Peachtree Stage at Atlantic Station at 3:00 PM, but there will also be a performance from 12:30 AM – 2:00 AM at the Masquerade’s Hell Stage. Tokyo Police Club have been playing together since 2005 and have released four studio albums since then.