Downtown Raleigh's Hopscotch a draw for fans, musicians alike
Hopscotch is one of the anchors of downtown Raleigh’s outdoor festival season, and you might expect it to have to fight for elbow room with World of Bluegrass, SPARKcon and other events that crowd the city every September. But the primary competitors for Hopscotch, this year happening Sept. 5-7, actually come from farther afield.
“Our main competition is with bigger festivals in bigger cities, and also Europe,” said Hopscotch director Nathan Price. “Like if a band books one European thing in early September, then they’ll be over there all month. There are so many festivals all over the world in early September, and it sucks to lose bands to Europe. But there’s not really anything I can say when a band gets a chance to go to Berlin to play in some amazing and beautiful cathedral.”
That said, Hopscotch has performed admirably, carving out a nationwide niche as a festival that punches well above its weight. Yearly attendance generally comes in at around its overall capacity of 25,000 people, which should be the figure again for this year’s edition.
This is the 10th Hopscotch, and it has another excellent lineup of more than 120 acts playing in 11 venues across downtown Raleigh. The biggest shows during Hopscotch weekend, Sept. 5-7, happen at Red Hat Amphitheater and on the City Plaza main stage.
Key headliners this year include the venerable alternative-rock trio Sleater-Kinney, promoting their new album “The Center Won’t Hold”; acclaimed local hip-hop group Little Brother, whose just-released new album “May the Lord Watch” is their first in nearly a decade; and former Riley Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis.
Many of the festival’s venues also have free day parties, turning downtown Raleigh into a free-for-all of live music.
The lineup has plenty of rising acts to watch, including Daughter of Swords, the side project of Mountain Man vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. The chance to catch up with peers on the local scene makes Hopscotch a big draw among area musicians, too.
“There’s always dozens and dozens of bands to see,” said Wye Oak’s Will Hackney, who has played almost every previous Hopscotch but is attending just as a fan this year. “I mostly just go along with trusting the quality of who they bring in without looking too closely at the schedule ahead of time. There are so many bands I’ve caught at Hopscotch before they blew up. I was looking through some of the old lineups and thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I saw those guys in 2013, and they’re huge now.’ I’ve had that feeling a few times.”
Artist curation is another aspect of this year’s festival. Hopscotch management commissioned 10 acts to select the other acts playing with them, Little Brother among them.
“They asked us, 'Who you wanna get? Who you want?” said Little Brother’s Phonte Coleman. “And all the bands we had them get are people we thought would make for a good experience for everyone coming to see us. I think it’s important to always show the branches of the tree – to show that if you like this, here’s some people influenced by us, in the same lane continuing the tradition of what we started.”
Hopscotch ticket packages range from $37.50 to $349, available from etix.com. For details, see hopscotchmusicfest.com.
