Hopscotch Day 1: Old Bricks & Best Coast

Best Coast
All photos by Kevin Norris

Promising Triangle-area locals Old Bricks kicked off Hopscotch at The Hive at Busy Bee (in front of a wall of old bricks, fittingly). A small crowd was packed in tight as the layout of the bar funneled audience members to the front. It felt more crowded than it was.

The band’s haunting sounds didn’t struggle to fill the small venue and the band laid the reverb on thick. The lyrics were unintelligible, but the ghostly effect was engaging. At the end of the set, the 25 or so folks that stuck around were treated to a brief, but energetic percussion breakdown. Old Bricks is certainly a band that local music fans should keep an eye out for in the future.

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The line at Tir Na Nog was down the block. It’s pretty clear that Best Coast was one of the most anticipated early sets of Hopscotch for a lot of folks. The pub was packed and sweltering 30 minutes before the band even took the stage.

They sounded great from the start, opening with "Crazy for You." Props to the sound team who had the band sounding perfect and quickly fixed the speakers when the whole left side went out. Early on the band blew through their songs, but it wasn’t long before front-women Bethany Cosentino was joking and sharing stories about her cat, Snacks.

The audience’s energy dragged in the middle when Best Coast played a succession of their more melancholy tunes, but the room jump started as soon as the band launched into "When I’m With You" for an energetic ending.

Old Bricks