Only in its infancy, Hopscotch was started two years ago by Raleigh's alternative newspaper, The Independent Weekly. Its first-year festival in 2010 featured 130 bands in 10 venues all over downtown Raleigh. Headlining the festival was hip-hop's own Public Enemy as well as No Age, Panda Bear, Broken Social Scene and locals the Rosebuds. Most of the acts that played were strictly of the indie rock genre, including Cults, Washed Out, Bowerbirds and Akron/Family to name just a few.
This year's lineup was of epic proportion. The amount of indie buzzbands that played this weekend almost rivals Austin's South by Southwest Festival. The first night of Hopscotch, Thursday, featured the Love Language, Yardwork and Dinosaur Feathers, three up-and-coming indie bands that have gained much attention on the blogosphere this year.
Friday's Hopscotch festivities kicked off with the Dodos playing at Raleigh's civic center City Plaza. Signed by Frenchkiss Records and Wichita Recordings, the Dodos' music can be described as indie psych rock, and they drew a large crowd for their performance. Later that night, the Annuals, Braids, Vivian Girls and the Generationals all played across Raleigh to enthusiastic audiences.
Saturday night saw indie mega stars the Flaming Lips playing to a huge audience at City Plaza. Highlights of the night include Columbia locals Toro y Moi, as well as a myriad of hip bands such as the Old Ceremony, Beach Fossils and Future Islands.
This year's festival will once again be helping out a local charity called the Helping Hand Mission that assists families and individuals across five different communities in central North Carolina through donations of food, furniture and other items. This is the second year the Helping Hand Mission will be assisted by Hopscotch.
Founder Greg Lowenhagen stumbled upon a hidden gem when he came up with Hopscotch. The Triangle, made up of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, is a gold mine of local talent that until recently had only been available to residents of North Carolina. By pairing these local musical acts with national bands, The Independent Weekly has managed to simultaneously create a better music scene for the Triangle, while at the same time given immeasurable amounts of exposure to local bands.
Because Hopscotch is still in its infancy, ticket prices are much cheaper than the bigger, well-known festivals. This year's tickets were $155 for a VIP three-day pass, which included the Flaming Lips concert. The three-day club pass was a mere $65. Think that's a lot? That includes 150 bands comprised of Raleigh's own music royalty and some of the most buzz-worthy indie bands of this year so far. Still don't think it's worth it?
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