Hopscotch Music Festival announces the first wave of the 2021 lineup. Here’s what we know

The initial lineup for the 2021 Hopscotch Music Festival was announced Friday, with acts expected to perform across two stages for in-person shows in Raleigh.

The 11th annual festival is scheduled Sept. 9 to 11 and will be a departure from its usual mix of indoor and outdoor concerts to facilitate COVID-19 safety precautions. Instead, concerts will take place on outdoor stages at Moore Square and City Plaza on Fayetteville Street.

The lineup announced Friday includes 28 national, regional and local acts across a diverse selection of musical genres, from classic rock ‘n’ roll to country and folk bands.

Headline acts include Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, Archers of Loaf, Parquet Courts and Caroline Polachek. Notably, the festival is also featuring Dr. Dog’s Farewell tour.

Hopscotch is also maintaining its local flair with names like Bowerbirds, Libby Rodenbough (of Mipso) and Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. Archers of Loaf got its start in Chapel Hill in 1991.

A schedule of playing dates and locations has not been announced.

Although the lineup will include fewer performers than in past years, the smaller lineup presents unique opportunities, said Nathan Price, festival director in a phone interview with the News & Observer.

“We’re still going to keep our budget loosely the same, so it’s going to be big bands,” Price said. “It’ll be the first year that you can actually see everyone on the festival lineup, if you want to. A lot of people might see more bands than they’ve ever seen at Hopscotch.”

What about day parties?

Like most music festivals and concerts, Hopscotch was forced to go virtual last year, with “Distant Existence,” a slate of live-streamed concerts in partnership with WUNC Music. The online event even featured the day parties the festival is known for.

Day parties won’t be part of the official Hopscotch programming this year but many smaller vendors will still present them, independent of the festival, allowing patrons to attend if they are comfortable, Price said.

Although organizers were trying to make some version of Hopscotch happen, they did not expect to be able to operate at this scale with two main stages of performances.

“For a lot of people that come to Hopscotch, it will still be their first big event back,” Price said.

Although the Festival will be entirely outside, the organizers haven’t yet solidified a rain plan.

“We normally get pretty lucky,” Price said. “Normally we can word around some stuff, and because it’s in September it’s still very hot. A lot of times the heat is more an issue for us than the rain.”

Price said he hopes Hopscoth brings people to downtown in a safe way and can help local businesses and artists — those who have been struggling over the past year of the pandemic.

And while smaller in scale, Price said this year’s event may end up shaping future festivals.

“If this works out well and then we can add some more stuff back in the future,” Price said. “It’s possible that this is a good footprint for us in the future. We might not have necessarily looked at this had we not had this thing come up, but I think it’s going to be really good and cool. It’s gonna feel more unique to the city of Raleigh.”

After a year of uncertainty due to the pandemic, the ability to be flexible and to expect anything have been important in dealing with the situation, Price said.

“More than anything it’s just that we want to come back together and have everybody do something together,” Price said.

Details

Where: Moore Square and City Plaza in Downtown Raleigh

When: Sept. 9-11

Initial 2021 Lineup: Animal Collective, Archers of Loaf, Body Meat, Bowerbirds, Caroline Polachek, Colin Stetson, Dougie Poole, Dr. Dog (farewell tour), Flying Lotus, Garcia Peoples, Hannah Jadagu, Helado Negro, Hippo Campus, Hubert Lenoir, Kate Rhudy, Lesthegenius, Libby Rodenbough, Lido Pimienta, Magic Tuber String Band, Makaya McCraven, Parquet Courts, Patois Counselors, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Shannon & The Clams, Sluice, Sonny Miles, The Dead Tongues, Wednesday

Tickets: 3-day pass tickets are available. One-day passes go on sale in early August. Passes are limited due to reduced capacity.