The Spinnaker Team took on Shaky Knees for the second day. We were not disappointed.

Cloud Nothings

As an enthusiastic Cloud Nothings fan, I was adamant to make sure the first time I saw them was as low key and small batch as possible. As I have learned at festivals thus far, I tend to let the crowd interfere negatively too much with my experience (large groups of people stress me out). So, to make this happen, I talked Jesse into staying up for their late-night show with Preoccupations at the Masquerade.

What we thought was going to be an 11 p.m. performance turned into a 1:20 a.m. performance. My hunch that the late-night show was going to run like a bar show, with doors at one time and performances at another, was unfortunately correct. But…it’s Cloud Nothings! I just had to.

With extremely sleepy eyes (three hours of sleep y’all), a splitting headache and two new CN records from the merch table awkwardly tucked in my arms, I was determined to give the band my full attention. Even half asleep, Cloud Nothings did not disappoint me, and made it very worth the sleep deprivation.

They began with an old song from “Here and Nowhere Else” (2014), and played lots of new songs from their 2017 album Life Without Sound. Although the live mix provided by the venue was to be desired and muddled much of what I heard, vocalist Dylan Baldi let out his best yelling the whole time. I don’t know why I was surprised to hear that escape from his mouth, but I realized it might be because of how calm he looked. He looked at peace. Even when he was playing vigorously he knew exactly what he was doing. The drummer, Jayson Gerycz, was the most enthusiastic of the bunch, just going insane on his tiny drumset. The group looked tired (as it WAS oh-dark-thirty in the morning), but still managed to make it exactly what I wanted from them at a small venue concert. -RC

The xx

I have loved The xx since my middle school days, their spacey-ambient songs tug on the heartstrings and are a catalyst for extreme introspection. When I saw that they would be a headliner at Shaky Knees, I rejoiced in the fact that I will be able to see them live.

Cutting through the crowd to get a good spot was difficult as first. I believe everyone was as excited as me for their performance! However, once I did get a spot, The xx kicked off their performance with the track ‘Say Something Loving’ from their newest record I See You, released this past January. Their performance was phenomenal, the mixing was fabulous and you could hear the voices of Romy Croft and Oliver Sim with crystal clarity. Their setlist was diverse, covering songs from all three of their records. Other highlights were the performances of “VCR,” “Islands,” and “Fiction.” their performance of “Fiction” was an remixed version, and transitioned flawlessly to the next song in the set. They ended their set was their track “Angels” which tied together the entire setlist. It was dreamy, and left the audience feeling like we returned from Earth after a trip to the cosmos. All in all, The xx was everything I could’ve hope for: a live performances both strong and emotive. -JR

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