Scouring the undercard for the best bets at this year’s rock festival in Atlanta
It seems like forever since we (Bill Foster, Rusty Odom, Matt Rankin and I) roamed the hallowed grounds of Shaky Knees Music Festival, now in its 12th year. Change is inevitable, and such is the case with one of our favorite events, as 2025 has seen it switch up both the time of year (Sept. 19-21 instead of early May) that it occurs and the venue in which it takes place (the larger Piedmont Park rather than Central Park).
We applaud the efforts of festival organizer Tim Sweetwood and promotion company C3 for tackling headlong the challenges they faced in even having an event this year – and then coming up with a top-shelf lineup featuring veterans and up-and-comers alike that is the envy of the festival world. While that’s something that we’ve come to expect from Shaky Knees, it speaks to the organizational acumen of everyone involved in putting it together year after year.
While the headliners and subheadliners need no introduction, Shaky Knees is famous for handpicking developing and emerging talent, and we’ve assembled the following list of under-the-radar acts, presented in chronological order by date/set time, that we’re most excited to see this coming weekend.
Lambrini Girls • Friday, 4:30 p.m., Ponce de Leon
Shaky Knees always gives us an explosive up-and-coming act that is sure to bring the proverbial house down with a fire performance, and this year we have a feeling it will be Lambrini Girls at Ponce. These Brighton, England, ladies are fierce noise-punk rockers in the vein of Amyl and the Sniffers. Lambrini Girls burst on the scene in 2024 with the hot single “God’s Country” and followed that up with this year’s full-length effort “Who Let the Dogs Out,” which is easily one of the most raucous albums released thus far in 2025. The band’s meteoric rise perfectly coincides with this appearance in Atlanta.
Girl Tones • Saturday, 12 p.m., Piedmont
Sisters Kenzie and Laila Crowe from Bowling Green, Kentucky, haven’t been making music for long, but it’s about quality over quantity with this duo. Influenced by the post-punk and Riot Grrrl movements, Girl Tones cranks out a stark yet powerful drum-and-guitar sound. Check out their cover of Radiohead’s “High & Dry,” as the sisters really do the song justice both lyrically and musically.
Johnny Marr • Saturday, 4:45 p.m., Peachtree
OK, while it’s true that Johnny Marr shouldn’t be under anyone’s radar, some in the younger generations perhaps might not have discovered The Smiths just yet. But Marr, that group’s lead guitarist, has been one of the best axemen and songwriters in the indie-rock realm for five decades now. He started playing music in bands at the age of 13 before co-founding one of the most highly regarded acts of all time as a 19-year-old in 1982. He’s gone on to score multiple films (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “No Time to Die”) and has worked alongside numerous artists of varying styles (The Pretenders, The Avalanches, Talking Heads). He was a member of Modest Mouse for several years in addition to being a part of countless collaborations and projects. We couldn’t be more amped to catch a rare solo performance of his in the Southeast.
Teen Mortgage • Sunday, 1:15 p.m., Criminal Records
Can a teenager even obtain a mortgage? Maybe they can if they rock as hard as this duo from Washington, D.C. Thanks to local radio personality Derek Senter, this is my personal favorite new band of the past two years. The raw energy that a Teen Mortgage performance promises to put on display makes up for the loss of Mannequin Pussy, which dropped out of the festival due to a scheduling conflict. (MP will be playing the Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville on Sept. 24 with support from Lip Service – be there or be square!) Teen Mortgage is a quintessential post-punk band that fits like a hand in a glove on the Criminal Records stage. IYKYK.
English Teacher • Sunday, 2 p.m., Ponce de Leon
English Teacher’s “This Could Be Texas” might’ve been the sleeper-hit album of 2024. With tracks like “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying” and “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” (neither nearly as drab as the titles suggest, promise), this British band comprising musicians from Leeds and Lancashire sounds like it has been honing its craft for a solid decade as opposed to the reality: one that’s released only one LP to date. Regardless of its limited experience, I’ve heard enough to say that this will be a can’t-miss band at Shaky ’25.
