In the past two years, a certain kind of indie rock band—jean jackets, salt-and-pepper beards, broad-rimmed hats—of the early 2000s has resurrected. 2024 saw a reunion tour from The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie; Vampire Weekend and Bright Eyes both released new albums.
This year, the band of that moment is My Morning Jacket, which released its tenth album, Is, in March and headlines this year’s Hopscotch Music Festival in downtown Raleigh.
Introspective rapper Earl Sweatshirt tops Thursday’s billing, for the festival’s September 4-6 dates, followed by My Morning Jacket on Friday, and pop-rock duo Sparks. The festival marks Earl Sweatshirt’s first time playing in North Carolina since 2019, and Sparks’ fourth-ever appearance in the state.
Other notable acts include swoony British singer Nilüfer Yanya, rock outfit Geese (which just announced a new album and whose lead singer, Cameron Winter, has become something of an indie sensation in his solo career, recently playing DPAC with Waxahatchee), art-punk band Les Savy Fav, whose drummer, Harrison Haynes, is an artist-about-the-Triangle.
Also: Built to Spill, Yeule, Superchunk, Daughter of Swords, Claire Rousay, Black Emperor, Swamp Dogg, and Crumb. The festival has introduced comedy acts into its lineup in recent years, with Saturday Night Live’s Sarah Sherman featured in 2023 and Joe Pera in 2024. That doesn’t look to be explicitly the case this year, but one can infer (or at least, hope) that maybe at some point Kyle Mooney, who is billed to play music, may take a comedic detour at some point in the weekend.
This probably isn’t Hopscotch’s shiniest lineup to date: It’d be hard to beat 2023’s “biggest get yet” of Pavement or last year’s spellbinding St. Vincent set. Still, it’s hard out there, and we feel lucky to have our hometown festival going strong and bolstering Triangle artists in the process. This year, find local acts Fust and Blue Cactus playing the same stage as My Morning Jacket.
More Hopscotch artists and day parties will be announced next month and passes are on sale now.
Follow Culture Editor Sarah Edwards on Bluesky or email [email protected].