This past weekend, bands and fans took over downtown Raleigh for the fourth annual Hopscotch Music Festival. Check out what Diversions staff had to say about the festival’s 2013 installment.
Chris, Assistant Dive Editor
After a jam-packed Thursday and Friday, Hopscotch’s concluding act promised to be just as busy, albeit a more mellow affair.
After hopping across downtown Raleigh to catch day performances from local favorites Spider Bags, Lonnie Walker and Oulipo, I planted myself in City Plaza early for Raleigh upstarts The Lollipops. The garage pop act has been gaining steam as of late, and its effervescent set on the main stage certainly turned some bouncing heads. The band’s bubbly pop tunes provided a fitting introduction to indie legends The Breeders performing its 1993 landmark Last Splash. Frontwoman Kim Deal’s carefree stage personality shined as her competent band tore through some of its classic songs, including the catchy “Cannonball.”
After an extensive equipment change, British space rockers Spiritualized took the City Plaza stage as the sun retreated from the sky. The band crafted dense instrumentation behind seated frontman Jason Pierce’s Beatles-esque melodies. The set’s centerpiece came in the form of the epic “Lord Let It Rain on Me,” with Pierce’s wavering vocals bouncing off City Plaza’s towering buildings.
I then sauntered over to Memorial Auditorium to catch The Dead Tongues, the latest project from local folk songster Ryan Gustafson. Songs from the band’s 2013 release Desert took on new life with gorgeous harmonies and light organ touches. Memorial Hall’s wide open space provided an adequate venue for Gustafson’s expansive folk tunes. From there, it was off to Deep South for local favorites Schooner. I caught a couple of rollicking numbers off the band’s soon-to-be-relased LP Neighborhood Veins, which promises to be a lively effort.
The Beets supplied one of the festival’s more curious sets at The Berkeley Cafe. The trio’s minimalist punk tunes tackled mundane subjects such as watching television with a refined intensity reminiscent of Pavement’s more aggressive tracks. Combine that with a rather frantic light show consisting solely of incandescent light bulbs and you get one Hopscotch’s most pleasantly surprising performances.
Finally, I made my way across town a few blocks for Califone’s brooding folk at the Long View Center. The church-like space constituted an intimate atmosphere for the group’s ominous tunes. After an emotional performance of “Funeral Singers,” it was evident that Califone’s set had provided a mellow and moving conclusion to my 2013 Hopscotch experience.
As I drove home for some much-needed sleep, I reflected on all the fantastic artists I had seen throughout the weekend. I was proud that such an eclectic group of musicians had performed in Raleigh, a city very much on the rise. I was proud to have visited so many unique venues, from The Berkeley Cafe’s dive atmosphere to Fletcher Opera Theater’s reverent silence. But most of all, I was proud that the city of Raleigh embraced such a diverse crop of artists, no matter how weird they may be.
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