Hopscotch Music Festival

With 120 bands over 3 days in September, Hopscotch is known for adventurous lineups, memorable performances, and a fan-friendly atmosphere. From large outdoor main stages in Raleigh City Plaza and Red Hat Amphitheater to intimate club shows, the festival features music in almost every genre imaginable—rock, hip-hop, metal, folk, electronic, experimental, and more—and its schedule highlights this diversity each year.

“The premiere experimental and underground festival in America”—Ad Hoc

“Hopscotch is a weird and wonderful festival largely because no one group of people define it. It is not just for industry types. It is not just for teenagers with floral crowns. It is not just for the Glow People. And by being for no one in particular, it ends up being for everyone. In three days of music, I met all of those types, plus married couples, college kids, cratediggers, in-towners and out-of-towners. Come one, come all.”—Brightest Young Things

“Hopscotch Music Festival is one of the best and most eclectic music festivals in America.” —Spin

“In Raleigh Thursday through Saturday, it was all about an extraordinarily cool roster of bands. With streets cordoned off throughout the downtown area, thousands of people … wandered among ten participating music venues, creating a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere.” —Rolling Stone

“Hopscotch: perfection, indeed” —The News & Observer

“Like most who know of its perfection, I’m almost afraid to gush too much at the risk of jinxing or ruining the best three days of music experiences one can be given…Perfectly curated with a blind ear to any buzz, specific genre, or anything else…Hopscotch Festival can turn the biggest music snob cynic into a carefree music lover once again. The word perfect is thrown around lightly all over the place (I misuse it all the time), but that’s the only word to describe this dream of a music festival…PERFECT.”—We Listen For You

From its inception in 2010, Hopscotch has been a signature event for the creative community of Raleigh, North Carolina. Approximately 20% of the festival’s performers hail from in-state—a figure few, if any, nationally recognized music festivals can claim. With official programming stretching across 12 walkable venues, an art exhibition, more than 30 day parties, and the Hopscotch Design Festival, Hopscotch is a city-wide celebration for locals and fans visiting from faraway locales.