Hopscotch 2013 Night 2: Holy Ghost!, A-Trak

Photos by Kevin Norris

After local favorites Gross Ghost and Future Islands got things started on the City Plaza stage on Friday (see photos with Justin's write-up HERE), it was time for the replacements for original headliner Big Boi to keep the party going.

New York synthpop band Holy Ghost! were up first and they played songs from their forthcoming sophomore album Dynamics as well as their self-titled debut. The band didn't interact much with the crowd but focused on keeping everyone grooving along to their steady beats and infectious synths and melodies.

Older songs like "Do It Again," "Hold On" and "I Will Come Back" were hits with the crowd as well as the band's new single "Okay." The band had a wall of synths backing the stage which at times hosted as many as four members of the band all plugging away at various gear including some hefty, old school Moog-style. It's great to see the band working so hard to perform so much of their music live as opposed to just using a bunch of samples and pre-recorded tracks. It was a tight set.

Last up on the big stage that night was acclaimed Canadian DJ A-Trak. While he certainly seemed to have great skill it certainly wasn't the most compelling show for the average music fan who isn't a big fan of electro house music (myself included). The crowd had thinned considerably by the time he took the stage and it was definitely the smallest crowd I'd seen for a City Plaza headliner. With so many other bands already playing other venues around town, I bid farewell to A-Trak fairly early.