As Hopscotch weekend approaches, we’ve compiled a Spotify playlist of the tracks we’re most excited to see live. Have a listen.
By Josh Klahre & Robb Leandro

The final Hopscotch line-up is now out and we’ve been fast a work perusing the artist list; reacquainting ourselves with the ones we know and sampling those we haven’t yet heard of—incidentally, there are many this year. We’ve been bouncing tracks and artists back and forth with the end goal of creating some kind of consensus on the artists we absolutely must see.

As with most of our Hopscotch playlists from years past, we’ve pulled in some of our favorite songs from the headliners, dropped a few more from bands we love but haven’t been to Raleigh in a while (or ever). From there we explore the lineup, based primarily on whether the band’s name strikes us or not. Band names are only an entry point though, so no matter how cool or odd the name, the music has to hit us in the gut or the heart before its added to our playlist. This year’s winners: Penthouse Boys and Kississippi. Cool names, even cooler sound. 

What follows is a list of tracks that we heard and thought were exciting. Some tracks contain explicit lyrics—a friendly heads-up if you plan to spin this in mixed company. Another fair warning: many of the best shows we have seen have been from bands who have yet to post a song or record on Spotify, so if you are looking to do a deeper dive, Soundclound can be invaluable.

We hope you enjoy our playlist and we can’t wait to listen alongside you at Hopscotch 2019!

Click here to listen to Josh & Robb’s Hopscotch 2019 Playlist.