On my way back to Durham after three heated days at Hopscotch in Raleigh, my driver gave me their thoughts on the North Carolina arts scene. “I feel like there is not much space and support in the area”, they said. “Artists leave for big cities for more opportunities, but I’m glad to know there’s a place where these artists can come back with the people here.” Bringing together countless North Carolinians, Hopscotch 2024 was a grand homecoming for many artists who shared their stories of growing up or living in the area.
Asheville-born singer-songwriter Indigo de Souza brought a rich emotional hue to Hopscotch. With her unique musical style, Indigo de Souza blends her tactile voice with a glittering grunge-tinged rock performance. She uses this style to talk about her seemingly complicated relationship with the place where she grew up. Despite growing up with the sense of being left alone by her father (as demonstrated in her electric live rendition of “Always”), she feels a strong connection to the community she grew up in. In an interview with IndyWeek a few weeks ago, de Souza talked about how the people in Asheville influenced her early path in music: “Asheville is small and tight-knit, but it’s really rich with people that are talented and have a lot of passion.”
In her closing track “Young & Dumber,” Indigo de Souza extended her performance beyond a profound philosophical introspection, taking the audience back to her place of sabotage and hurt. Yet while she did this, she still soulfully sang, “the love I feel is so powerful.” As Indigo de Souza found compassion and care for herself and her loved ones through peaceful contemplations and seething inquiries, the live performance became as potent as her lyrics. Bathed in the flamingo afterglow vibes, the stage was lit up by the warmth of her music. This closing track was also secured by the passionate crowds when the set ended – the waves of hype and enthusiasm make Hopscotch a vibrant, refreshing experience.
Canadian-based jazz band BADBADNOTGOOD, who once collaborated with Fayetteville-born artist Baby Rose in the album “Slow Burn,” performed at Hopscotch on Friday night. The fusion jazz group elevates the stage with dazzling visual effects and percussively-paced melodies almost simulating heartbeats, swiftly altering their tempos and incorporating rich improvisations into their live performance. Following them, indie-folk singer-songwriter Faye Webster closed the Friday night with contrasting style: beneath the shifting cold-blue hue and soft yellow glow of the stage lights, she unveiled her ethereal melancholy to the audience at Hopscotch.
On Saturday, starting with a powerful overture in “Reckless”, St. Vincent transformed the stage into an audio-visual feast. The alternative rock icon showcased her awe-striking prowess on the electric guitar riff in “Sweetest Fruit” as well as an exceptional control over her versatile vocal styles and tones in the diverse set of songs she performed, ranging from the typical art-rock and avant-garde to acoustic ballads. By adding quirky visual images (such as scissors corresponding to the lines in “Surgeon”: “Best finest surgeon / Come cut me open.”) and theatrical effects in her performance, St. Vincent infused a unique vitality into the last night of Hopscotch.
Beyond the dynamism in her performance, a wave of nostalgia washed over Hopscotch with St. Vincent’s recounting of her own ties to the city of Raleigh. She mentioned that she had a friend living in Raleigh years ago who gave her a lot of support in the early days of her career. The city was endowed with such unique meaning to her because of that, and it certainly has a nostalgic undertone now, perhaps similar to how she reminisces about her past in “New York.”
Towards the end of her performance, St. Vincent leaped from the stage into the crowd, gazing into their eyes. She walked through the audience and embraced each of them standing around, while they echoed the words in “New York.” The last performance at City Plaza imbued the crowds with exuberance, leaving a lingering deep resonance with the emotional landscape St. Vincent traversed via her music.
Hopscotch is a place where one can immerse themself in music and still have a holistic entertainment experience. Around sunset on the final day, we captured some of the highlights of the skateboard and rollerblade practice at the Hopscotch Skate Competition organized by Skate Raleigh. The crowd cheered and whistled as the skaters soared into the air, carving through the ramps and rails. And in the clubs after sunset, another wave of live music washed over the city. City Plaza and Moore Square may have calmed down, but the performances inside these buildings were just heating up.
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