Hopscotch Music Festival returns for it’s ninth year to downtown Raleigh, N.C., Sept. 6-8. Described as “America’s (secretly) best festival” and “the premiere experimental and underground festival in America,” Hopscotch features over 120 acts performing within Raleigh’s walkable downtown footprint.

This year’s main stage headliners will be Miguel, Grizzly Bear, Belle & Sebastian, MC50 performing MC5’s ‘Kick out the Jams’, and more. Full main stage bills will be released later this summer.

All remaining VIP and 3-Day passes are on sale Friday, May 18 at 10 a.m. through www.hopscotchmusicfest.com and www.etix.com. 1-Day passes will go on sale later this summer.

Hopscotch is programmed by executive director Nathan Price. Grant Lyman, President of Live Nation Carolinas, the company that is responsible for the city-owned Red Hat Amphitheater’s calendar, worked closely with Price to program the main stage bills.

This year’s poster was designed by Kaanchee Gandhi.

2018 INITIAL LINEUP 

Miguel, Grizzly Bear, Belle & Sebastian, MC50, Thundercat, The Revolution, dvsn, Liz Phair, Moses Sumney, Real Estate, Mipso, The Jayhawks, Waxahatchee, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Red Fang, Gang Gang Dance, Body/Head, Grouper, US Girls, Hailu Mergia, Ought, The Love Language, Speedy Ortiz, Julie Byrne, Shopping, Circuit Des Yeux, Swearin’, Mind Over Mirrors, No Age, Monolord, Boulevards, Hatchie, Escape-ism, Jennifer Castle, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Moaning, Nicolay and the Hot at Nights, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, The Yawpers, Combo Chimbita, Deaf Wish, The Spirit of the Beehive, Omni, Zephania O’hora, Sneaks, Warm Bodies, Molly Burch, House and Land, Lomelda, Paint Fumes, Palberta, Michael Rault, Zack Mexico, Glenn Jones, Nance, Dex Romweber, Anna St Louis, Renata Zeiguer, Elephant Micah, Abdu Ali, Still Corners, Patois Counselors, Oceanator, Blanko Basnet, Night Shop, Fitness Womxn, Young Bull, w00dy, Lightning Born, Blue Cactus, m8alla, SE Ward, Drag Sounds, Romantic States, Jessie and the Jinx, Pamela_ and her sons, Spookstina, Beauty World, Das Drip, Spaceheater, Indigo De Souza, Bangzz, Blueberry, Stevie, Alex Brown, Vacant Company, Heavensend

TICKETS
 VIP and 3-Day passes are on sale Friday, May 18 at 10 a.m. at www.hopscotchmusicfest.com/tickets.

Each of these passes allows entry into all festival clubs, three City Plaza headlining shows, and three Red Hat Amphitheater headlining shows.

Single show passes for all City Plaza and Red Hat shows as well as 1-Day passes will go on sale later this summer.

Passes and tickets are limited.

PREVIOUS REVIEWS FOR HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL

“Hopscotch is now 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, D.C.

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

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

“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. It’s SXSW without the stress, corporate overwhelming smack across the face, and dare I say Raleigh, NC becomes the most special town in the world for this one weekend.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, Louisville

“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