Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, was certainly no slouch when she opened for Spoon at Hopscotch in 2014: She had hits Actor, Marry Me, and Strange Mercy under her belt and had released her eponymous album at the start of the year.
Returning now as this year’s Hopscotch headliner, for the first time since 2014, Clark’s music has stood the indie rock test of time, with three albums (plus one collaborative release with David Bryne) in the intervening years; All Born Screaming, her most recent album, was just released in April. Though not as eye-catching a booking as last year’s headliner, Pavement—which Hopscotch director Nathan Price described to the INDY as the festival’s “biggest get ever”—the spiky, cerebral Clark makes for a reliable lead in the festival’s 14th year.
Waxahatchee—who has had a landmark year with the recent release of Tiger’s Blood and regularly spends time in the Triangle, thanks to creative relationships with Merge Records and producer Brad Cook—Faye Webster, Indigo de Souza, Amen Dunes, Snail Mail, Tim Heidecker, and Guided by Voices, among others, round out the three-day festival’s top billing. The festival also has a solid hip-hop and R&B contingent, with performances from JPEGMAFIA, MAVI, Lord-Jah Monte Ogbon, Previous Industries, Flower in Bloom, and more.
Price says he feels confident in the way this year’s event is shaping up.
“Last year, we really felt like we finally got our post-COVID sea legs, and now we can focus on building and growing the festival once again,” Price wrote in an email to the INDY. “I’m stoked on the wide-ranging mix of household names and rising stars from both the local and national scenes—it feels like this year’s Hopscotch will be one of the best we’ve ever presented.”
Last year, for the first time since the onset of COVID, Hopscotch returned in its full form with an array of small club shows; it also added comedy sets to the mix for the first time. This year’s lineup also includes more comedy, led by deadpan, Grandpa-sweater-wearing Joe Pera alongside Steven Chen, Katie Hughes, and more. Price also noted excitement at Hopscotch’s local partnerships with Skate Raleigh and “Totscotch,” which takes place at the Marbles Kids Museum.
You can explore the full Hopscotch Music Festival lineup here.
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