Day 2 @ Hopscotch Music Festival – September 6th 2019

Friday afternoon saw the wind and rain give way, and festival goers were greeted with calm skies and sunshine as Hopscotch shifted into the weekend proper.  The crowds picked up, and the afternoon day parties fired-off at venues big and small all-around downtown Raleigh.  Trying to pace ourselves, we were more frugal in our party hopping than in previous years, but a visit to the Three Lobed Records + WXDU Annual Ritual of Summoning at Kings provided a definite highlight in the form of local Carrboro psych-punk all-stars, Cold Cream.  Fronted by the strikingly mohawked Mara Thomas, Cold Cream delivered an aggressive sonic assault that channeled the raw freewheeling ferocity of iconic LA punk band the Germs.

With the afternoon fading, it was time to head to City Plaza and catch the evening’s headliners starting with Tyler Ramsey.  Ramsey, an Asheville-based NC local, spent several years juggling a solo career with lead guitar duties in indie rock outfit Band of Horses before departing the band to focus on his solo output in 2017.  Ramsey’s well-received set was followed by The Nude Party, who had been shifted from the opening night lineup due to weather related rescheduling.  Like Tyler Ramsey, the Nude Party have also called the NC mountains home.  The band formed in the rural mountain town of Boone North Carolina, playing house parties at Appalachian State University.  Having built a reputation for rowdy fun-filled performances, the Nude Party played a set that mixed garage rock with surf guitar and a splash of country flavor that definitely took the party vibe to an epic level.

Despite Red Hat Amphitheater running performances simultaneously with the main stage in City Plaza, but with staggered start times, we stayed at City Plaza to catch the heavily buzzed masked Canadian country artist Orville Peck, who was filling in for Purple Mountains following the death of band leader David Berman.  Peck proved the buzz was well earned and didn’t disappoint.  From the modern outlaw country of Orville Peck, we shuffled over to the Red Hat stage and shifted gears with the Talking Heads influenced indie rock of Dave Longstreth and Dirty Projectors.  Then it was back up the hill to City Plaza for the set of the night from Jenny Lewis.  Lewis began her set behind the keyboard for the first few songs before stepping out front and center where she continued on with a mixture of songs that covered the full range of her musical career.  Her performance was truly mesmerizing, and by the time she brought the show in for a landing with help from her longtime collaborators, The Watson Twins, the crowd were positively swooning. A bit weak in the knees ourselves after Jenny Lewis, we closed out the main stage performances with James Blake at Red Hat.  From there it was off to the clubs, where we somehow found ourselves at the Lincoln for the duration of the evening for some entertaining as hell performances from Yowler, and Caroline Rose, before ending the night with Atlanta’s Deerhunter.

Day 1 Coverage HERE

Day 3 Coverage HERE

Hopscotch Music Festival Day 2 Highlights
Photos © Dan Kulpa // Clashdan Photography