Hopscotch 2018, in summary

Since 2010, Hopscotch has taken over downtown Raleigh in early September every year, co-opting a variety of venues to host concerts out of over its multi-day span. This year, the festival took place from Thursday, Sept. 6, to Saturday, Sept. 8. This is already a marked change from last year’s festival, with the organizers having axed the shorter fourth day of the festival which took place last year on Sunday.

For those unfamiliar with the festival’s structure, each day of the festival starts early in the afternoon, with doors opening around 5-5:30 p.m. at the various venues. The first acts to go on are almost always headliners, with their concerts occurring typically at either Red Hat Amphitheater or the massive, temporary soundstage at City Plaza that has been a staple of the festival.

This year, the busiest venue by far so happened to be City Plaza, with headliners Grizzly Bear, Mipso, Speedy Ortiz, Liz Phair, MC50 and more — all performing at separate points. Of particular interest were the Flaming Lips; renowned for their eccentric and complex stage shows, the alternative rock band served as a replacement for Belle and Sebastian, who dropped out in June.

The general feel of the festival this year was a varied one to be sure. This year’s lineup featured a markedly less indie-rock-centric lineup, with far more variety in terms of genre. Even this year’s headliners varied wildly in terms of musical feel, with the Flaming Lips, Real Estate, Grizzly Bear, Zack Mexico, Liz Phair and Speedy Ortiz all fitting vaguely into the indie rock genre; Thundercat, M8alla, Miguel, Boulevards, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Moses Sumney and DVSN all fitting somewhat into R&B; Mipso and H.C. McEntire being folk/singer-songwriter; and MC50 being metal/hard rock. This variety of genres was echoed by the subsidiary lineup as well, which featured a stronger emphasis on metal, experimental electronic and country this year than in years previous.

“I think there’s a pretty decent variety for people of different genres that are represented,” said Miranda Phillips, an attendee.

On to more specific changes to the festival this year is the replacement of the Contemporary Art Museum as a venue for the relatively new venue, the Wicked Witch. Reception to this change wasn’t unanimous among attendees that I spoke to, and I myself have mixed feelings. Some criticized the vibe of CAM, saying that it just didn’t feel right for the shows that played there, but another attendee felt that it was a cool space. Still, all of the attendees I spoke to were able to compare it to the Wicked Witch, so I made a point to go there myself.

By far, it is the most removed of any venue from the central area that Hopscotch generally takes place in. The walk to CAM felt long last year, but the walk to Wicked Witch is clearly much worse. The show I caught there was experimental electronic artist W00dy. The venue itself is small and features a long walk-up to the actual showroom. The showroom is reminiscent of a dance studio, with several large mirrors on the wall, a polished wood floor and a relatively small raised stage. It’s hard to objectively compare the two venues, but if I had to wager a guess, it’s more likely that CAM or a new venue replaces the Wicked Witch next year.

Of note this year was a pronounced focus on metal, with bands like Skeletonwitch and Sleep playing regularly at The Basement, a venue that is routinely hosted out of the bottom of the Raleigh Convention Center. I had heard ramblings among crowds that Sleep was the band to see, and so I decided to check them out. The audience responded with great energy to the heavy guitars and frenetic bass-playing of the band.

Daniel Matti, a Hopscotch attendee, told me on Friday that the group only plays around four shows per year, and as such were highly anticipated performers for fans of metal.

“I know! I know,” Matti said. “You’ll wanna see Sleep, they’re incredible.”

There was also contention to be had with the lineup this year. Adam Smith, another attendee of Hopscotch, mentioned also that he was dissatisfied with the higher concentration of local bands this year.

“Honestly the lineup [this year] is disappointing.” Smith said. “Some of the national acts are really great, but the good majority of the lineup are bands that you would see locally. … A lot of the lineup, you could see on a regular basis, to be honest.”

Smith went on to speculate that Belle & Sebastian were intentionally dropped in favor of the objectively more popular Flaming Lips in order to appease fans of the festival who were dissatisfied. Miranda Phillips echoed this sentiment, suggesting it would have been better to have more acts come in from out of state.

Regardless of changes, the festival raged on and I had the great joy of being able to experience all three days of it. It started on Thursday with Real Estate and the Flaming Lips, the latter of which set a high bar for the rest of the weekend with their insane, vibrant and, in the words of lead singer Wayne Coyne, “magical” stage show. This was followed with bands Sleep and Waxahatchee later that night.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of seeing Thundercat, who before playing his first song dedicated the set to the recently departed Mac Miller. Thundercat seemed to channel the pain of this loss into an incredibly powerful and inspiring performance that resonated strongly with the crowd. I was also able to catch Grizzly Bear, It Looks Sad., and Paint Fumes, before ending the night with one of my favorite shows of the festival, Swearin’. 

On Saturday, I viewed Zack Mexico, Speedy Ortiz, Moses Sumney (whose set was somewhat plagued with technical difficulties), Liz Phair, Diaspora and W00dy, before ending the night early due to minor illness.

Overall, this year I was personally less satisfied with the lineup myself, but the highs of the festival were overall better than the previous year. It doesn’t matter how the festival has changed, it’s clear that Hopscotch is still alive and kicking and will be around for a while longer. This year had a little something for everyone, and while it’s too early to tell if next year will be more of the same, I’d go ahead and guess that there will at least be more than just indie rock again.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Hopscotch, you can visit their website here.