Hopscotch Music Festival (Sept. 4-6)

How was everyone's Thursday night?

I only got to see De La Soul, New Madrid, and The War On Drugs, but all were solid!

Dope, I saw De La Soul, Lee Noble, New Music Raleigh Presents: Future Shock, the very beginning of IIII, the first half of Author & Punisher, last half of Deniro Farrar, & Lunice. Managed to stay partly dry too..

To be fair... of all the states I go to see shows in, NC is consistently the worst about crowd chatter. Fucking, when I went to see Lost In The Trees earlier this year, half the crowd was just talking and talking, I did not hesitate in telling people around me to shush. Ditto on NIN/Soundgarden (especially during "Hurt", I mean come on), the Skinny Puppy show earlier this year had enough hardcores where that wasn't a problem at all, but that's a rare exception, not the rule. Jonathan Richman in 08 in Chapel Hill, plenty of shows at Moogfest/MOEMS I went to, Modest Mouse in 09 in Raleigh, Bosnian Rainbows at the AMH in 2013, more I'm sure I'm forgetting now... all had some of the most memorable instances of crowd not being respectful to the acts on stage and the people around them who not only paid to see, but believe it or not to hear as well. I'm not suggesting it's really a regional thing, but I notice this being more of a problem in NC, as opposed to SC (granted few shows), Atlanta, Tennessee. I don't know what it is, but I personally (and I obviously don't know exactly went down at Sun kil Moon because I wasn't there) think it's fine if an act tells the crowd to be quiet, not only for them but for the rest of the crowd, most of whom are just too damn polite or afraid of altercation to say anything.

Just got home, btw. I neep a shower and a nap. I'll give my reaction in a bit.

Yeah that block of 3 shows at CAM was amazing.. but the crowd was on my last nerve...

Did you catch Tom Krell's crowdsurfing experiment? He jumps in the crowd and everyone wants to put hands on him.. Some dude from his crew jumps and they half-ass catch him and then drop him.. He punked the shit out of those fucking hipsters and they had zero idea..

My Hopscotch was pretty much a bust. I saw almost no music and limped around the whole time. I gave up on Saturday before Death even took the stage and just relaxed in the hotel room. If my knee wasn't swollen then my ankle was. It was just better to accept defeat and let it go.

Hopscotch will be on my radar next year but chances are good I'm going to skip it for Basilica Soundscape. We will see. A year is a long time.

Muchas gracias to NoAge and Puptent for making the time go by faster. FYI: That hotel room door totally gave me a bruise.