Mrs Root and I got down to Atlanta Thursday night for the Shaky Knees Festival. Yesterday was fun... we saw (in order of appearance on various stages): Ghost of Paul Revere (bluegrass done up Portland, Maine style. Not bad, actually. Courtney Barnett (She’s really, really good. The only nit I have to pick is that she needs somebody to balance off her drone-y voice. But holy crap was that show otherwise good. Ton of vitality, and it was good seeing the hot young things 25 years my junior singing at one another word for word.
One in particular was the repeated lines in the song, Faceless Nameless:
Iwanna walk through the park in the dark
Men are scared that women will laugh at them
I wanna walk through the park in the dark
Women are scared that men will kill them
I hold my keys
Between my fingers]
Next up we went and got some ice coffees and watched us some Black Angels. Stoner rock, done up in 5-7 minute samples. Yes please. After, we went back to one of the huge stages to catch David Byrne. If you have a chance to see him this summer: DO IT. The band is all on stage (varying in size between 5 and 10 or so), and they all have a choreographed part, instruments and all. Songs about life, reality and love. Basically, what the Talking Heads were always about (covered a few Heads tunes,
too). What was also fun was how Janelle Monae was one of the backup singers and their encore was her song, Hell You Talmbout (googled
lyrics. This is
Georgia. There’s an extra level of stones it took for him to do that. We caught the Fleet Foxes after, but we bailed on the prospects of seeing Jack White and instead headed over to Decatur to the Brickstore Pub. That place is worth its weight in hops. Or something like that.
Today we’re eyeing up Parquet Courts, War on Drugs, and likely QOTSA. Tomorrow it’s Alvvays, Lord Huron, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The National. And about a hundred bands inbetween...
#Midfortiespretendingtobemidtwenties...