Hopscotch, after

Another Hopscotch has come and gone. Like last year, I had a lot of fun, saw a lot of bands--about twenty, if I'm remembering correctly--and spent a lot of money on delicious downtown food & drink. Unlike last year, I was unfamiliar with about 95% of the bands playing this year. I love live music under pretty much every circumstance, but it's a different experience when you can sing along to songs you know. I can't choose the first or second Hopscotch as my favorite, so I guess I'll just have to look forward to the third. Thanks, Hopscotch and Raleigh, for throwing another great summer send-off party!

Hopscotch, before

You've taken 362 days to regain strength and increase stamina. You remember the quickest path from Tir na nÓg to Berkeley Cafe. You have this paper, a phone app, a pocket schedule, too many Google links and a dozen friends tugging you in different directions. There's a wristband on your arm, and your work colleagues don't understand why. It's Hopscotch weekend: Don't conserve energy. Expend it. Rest will come sooner than you'd like.

- Greg Lowenhagen, Hopscotch founder and director

Last year, the inaugural Hopscotch Music Festival was sort of like a going-away party. It was this great huge event all across downtown Raleigh that happened to fall during my last weekend in town before I took off for a year in Spain. This year, I'll have two weeks to bask in post-festival bliss, and I have no doubts that Hopscotch will wow and exhaust me just as much as it did a year ago. It all starts tonight!