Hopscotch Music Festival - Friday Day Parties (9/9/16)

On the second day of Raleigh's Hopscotch Music Festival, I hung close to the west side of town for the day parties.  I was staying at an AirBnB in Boylan Heights, so this gave me a chance to freshen up (i.e., shower, nap) before another long night of shows.  As I posted earlier, it's all about the pacing.  Plus the west side of town leaned indie rock that day, which is fine by me.

The first set I caught was Greensboro's the Kneads, at Crank Arm Brewing Company. They've added a fourth member and filled out their sound.  Nice taste of jerky stop-starts, with a side of LOUD, to get me going for the day.

The Kneads...

Then just across the street, at Boxcar Bar + Arcade, I wanted to catch my third -- yes third -- set of the weekend by Secret Guest.  Having seen them in three totally different settings (house show, big club, daytime outdoors on a patio) on successive days, I can verify that they brought it each time.  Slight disappointment this time in that they didn't have quite as much room to jump around; made up for the fact that their end-of-set physical implosion was all that tighter. :)  They had their own secret guest in singer Hunter Park from She Returns from War, who played the Boxcar day party earlier.

Secret Guest...

Just outside on Commerce Place was the Hopscotch Makers Market, with it's own day party.  I just caught the tail end of Palm, who I had seen warm up the crowd for the Snails the night before.  Then I took in See Gulls for the second day in a row.  Yeah, a lotta repetition in my Hopscotch scheduling this year.  But this was special, because it was the last show for Duncan Webster and Leah Gibson with the band.  Check out their own band, Beauty World, who'll be having a release show for their EP, Joypop Turbo, at the Carrack in Durham on October 8th.  

See Gulls...

Closed out my stint of day parties by popping back to the Baxter next door (after a few games of Frogger), seeing a local band I'd never seen, the Affectionates.  They make indie pop with a big stride and a nod to the traditional, banjo and violin weighing in heavily.  Come to think of it, that's the second band I saw in two days to rock the banjo, the previous being the afore-mentioned Beauty World.  Can be tricky, but I love it when it works (it did both times).  Affectionates are a bar band in the best sense of that phrase.  Nice harmonies, too.  

The Affectionates...

So, um, I've still got a ton of Boxcar tokens if anybody needs some.  The music was just too good... plus Frogger was giving free credits!  

Next, I'll post about Friday night; great line-up at CAM + Big Freedia at Lincoln Theater!