It was sheer dumb luck that had me moving to Raleigh just time for a world-famous music festival, Hopscotch, and I intended to take full advantage of it.
(Note: the VLOG is in the middle. Scroll down and you'll see it.)
Unfortunately, my ride to downtown fell through. There was something to do at work, he had less time than he thought, couldn’t afford to miss it by dropping me off. I’m grateful to live in 2017, though, where a cab ride is just a click away!
After hopping into the Uber, I enjoyed the scenery on the ride towards downtown. Lots of open air punctuated by large, powerful buildings - banks, tech giants, apartment complexes. I caught a bit of it on video:
Downtown at Hopscotch
Arriving downtown, I could hear loud music from deep within Slim’s. This is a venue that my friends have mentioned 10000000 times to me and I was excited to finally check it out. I asked the guy in front of the door if he’d let me in, he’s all “Well - we’re pretty much at cap, I guess you can…”
I dart in, and behind me I can hear him finally muster up the courage to turn people away. You can’t hesitate in this situation, just get the fuck into the building.
It was towards the end of the day for Slim’s - but I caught Spider Bags for a raucus set of melodic punk, like an updated version of the best stuff from the early 80’s. This was a lot of fun to watch, the sound was great.
It’s always smart to get out right before the last song, just to beat the crowd. I found a beautiful park in-between Slim’s and the next venue, it was the perfect chance for a quick VLOG:
Here's the VLOG
This statue was very intense, but in a good way:
Back to Hopscotch
Then I found Boxcar, a rad arcade/bar combo with SO MUCH STUFF. Zack Mexico was playing at 6, and I knew I had to see them. They’re a rad band, they use really simple ideas and stretch them out to the max, sort of a hybrid of jam and progressive music. If you like Battles, you’d dig them.
Before the band starts is a great time for some snaps:
And yea they just slayed it. Great band, they’re about to tour Europe w/ Future Islands, go see it if you can. Here’s a bit of the first song (pardon the low view angle, I wasn’t gonna block other people just to film this)
They were the last act at the day party, so after that I took some time wander downtown Raleigh. There’s a great coffee/bar/dessert spot called Bittersweet, the coffee was great and they had a really attentive staff. It’s a good spot to check out.
They even offered me a shot for cheap… hey, who can resist?
Hopscotch Day 1 was fucking awesome. I am excited for day 2, tomorrow I’ll be there ALL day so theres gonna be even more bands and fun stuff to check out.
Is there anything cool happening near you this weekend?