The lineup won't be unveiled until April, but wristbands for next September's 2012 Hopscotch Music Festival go on sale this week. And yes, shelling out now represents a leap of faith. Based on past history, however, it should turn out fine.

Prices are $110 for the all-show wristband and $165 for the VIP edition. If you bought wristbands for either of the first two Hopscotches, you can get in on a pre-sale that starts at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Otherwise, the "official" on-sale starts Thursday. There's also a free "Hopscotch Ticket Party" show Thursday night at Tir Na Nog, a bill featuring The Toddlers, Music Tapes and others.

Scope out details here.

Toward the end of Superchunk's Saturday evening Hopscotch set, Mac McCaughan stopped singing during "Digging For Something" and started talking. He said that Superchunk had never played Raleigh much over the years, but he'd come to a lot of shows here -- mostly at clubs that no longer exist, including the Brewery and Fallout Shelter. And as he looked out over the throngs in front of the City Plaza stage, McCaughan opined that it was mighty cool to have some punk rock happening outdoors in downtown Raleigh.

I'll say. From all appearances, Hopscotch's second edition could not have gone better. The weather was great, the vibes better (everyone seemed to be on their best behavior, on both sides of the stage) and the programming first-rate. South By Southwest is the gold standard for festivals like this, but I would say I saw more bands I really liked at Hopscotch than at South By Southwest this year.

Superchunk was a highlight, opening for Flaming Lips with an hour-long set that seamlessly integrated songs from the current album "Majesty Shredding" with older songs going back two decades. So were the Lips, with a psychedelic spectacle that turned City Plaza into the world's freakiest high-tech rumpus room. And earlier Saturday, I saw fine performances by Hammer No More the Fingers, Shirlette & the Dynamite Brothers and Youth Lagoon at a day party outside the Lincoln Theatre. I would have seen more, but I was beat after the Lips and called it an early night.

So after a highly successful year two, now comes the tricky part for Hopscotch's management: How do they manage growth in a way that makes the festival better, improving on (or at least keeping) the good things about the experience? Word of mouth about this year will be overwhelmingly positive, which means a lot more people descending on Raleigh for next year's event. That certainly has its upside, because growing the festival will allow Hopscotch to get better. But unchecked growth can also render a festival a gridlocked, unmanageable mess, something that South By Southwest seems perilously close to becoming.

We'll see. But for now, all that needs saying is: Well done.

It is the nature of events like the Hopscotch Music Festival to either grow to oversized proportions, or wither and die. If Hopscotch's organizers could somehow bottle it and keep the festival right at this year's size indefinitely, that would be a very fine thing because it's really been perfect so far. The clubs have been crowded, but mostly not too crowded, with a great energy at shows around town and out on the street. Hopscotch has brought together a wonderful sense of critical mass -- the feeling that there's not only a lot of people on the town to hear music, but the right people. Bumping into folks I've not seen for a while has been half the fun.

My Hopscotch Friday began with a panel discussion on Simple Words: The Power of Narrative Songs. If you go to that link, you'll see that there were some heavy folks on that panel. So I mostly stayed quiet; said a few things here and there, but I mostly enjoyed having a seat next to Patterson Hood and listening to him hold forth. Everyone had great things to say, even though Stuart McLamb and Heather McEntire took some coaxing. I especially enjoyed hearing John Vanderslice (who has rocketed to a spot near the top of my personal singer-songwriter pantheon, between this panel and his terrific show later Friday night); and it was a special treat to hear a few songs by James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand; I left there humming "The DNR Waltz."

Hopscotch could not have asked for more perfect weather, and it was a great scene out on City Plaza Friday evening with Drive-By Truckers and Guided By Voices. The Truckers were their usual magnificent behemoth of gothic rock grandeur, with an unusual aspect: This was the first time I've ever seen Patterson Hood onstage without a guitar in his hands. He recently took a fall and cut his left hand, which required 15 stitches. So he began the set standing at the microphone singing "The Fourth Night of My Drinking," playing air guitar. Trooper that he is, however, Hood called for a guitar after that song and gamely soldiered on.

Friday night was billed as the last-ever Guided By Voices show, which no one seems to believe. Let's just say they've said goodbye before. Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster came onstage to introduce the band, declaring that he would eat a fish sandwich for every beer the band drank onstage (it would have been a few) and noting that because this was a festival show, it would be a short set of "only" 71 songs. They actually blazed through 29 songs in a bit more than an hour, and it was ragged boozy fun. Somehow I doubt we've seen the last of them.

Then it was on to a night of club-hopping between the Berkeley Cafe (the aforementioned Vanderslice), Fletcher Opera Hall (the world's loudest, oddest, skronkiest recital with Swans) and Lincoln Theatre (Foreign Exchange with your ubur-cool host, Phonte Coleman). I was up way too late and awoke way too early; but it looks like another perfect day brewing out there, with daytime music and Flaming Lips/Superchunk tonight. I'll see you out there.

This weekend is the second annual Hopscotch Music Festival, with tons of shows all over downtown Raleigh -- including Drive-By Truckers tonight with Guided By Voices, a show previewed here. Truckers guitarist Patterson Hood will also be on a panel discussion called Simple Words: The Power of Narrative Songs, happening from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the Raleigh City Museum and featuring a number of other folks (including me, though I plan to listen a lot more than I talk). Come on by.

Meantime, night one of Hopscotch was mighty fine, with big crowds and fine performances all over. I mostly just drifted around the downtown district popping into clubs to sample the festival's lineup a few songs at a time. I managed to see eight bands over the course of the evening, ranging from fantastic (our hometown heroes The Love Language) to super-fun (Brooklyn's Dinosaur Feathers) to super-baffling (New York's Cold Cave, who appeared to be bucking for a guest spot on "Sprockets"). Here's the night-one photo gallery.

Two more nights of rock beckon, although you'll need a wristband to club-hop and those sold out long ago. Also sold-out are advance tickets for Saturday's Flaming Lips show at City Plaza, but there should be some walk-up tickets available at the gate. And if you don't have either of those, your best bet might be to partake of the various day parties -- which have the added advantage of being free.

I'll see you around and about.

Wristbands go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday for the second edition of the Hopscotch Music Festival, which happens Sept. 8-10, and the list of who all will be playing is below. Of particular note, the big outdoor shows on City Plaza this year are Flaming Lips on Sept. 9, and Guided By Voices/Drive-By Truckers on Sept. 10. Club schedules should be out sometime in June. Like last year, everything is within walking distance in downtown Raleigh.

Wristbands are priced at $65, $105 and $160. For details, check here.

Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices, Drive-By Truckers, Superchunk, The Dodos, Swans, Yelawolf, Japandroids, Black Lips, J Mascis, Earth, Twin Shadow, The Love Language, Cold Cave, The Foreign Exchange, Krallice, The Necks, Toro Y Moi, Rhys Chatham G3, The Budos Band, Lost in the Trees, Weekend, Future Islands, Little Scream, Kort, John Vanderslice, Liturgy, Disappears, Lower Dens, Beans, Julianna Barwick, Xiu Xiu, Royal Bangs, Braids, Bombadil, Oneohtrix Point Never, Beach Fossils, Annuals, Lonnie Walker, JEFF the Brotherhood, Light Pines, Bird Peterson, Barn Owl, Royal Baths, Ford & Lopatin, The Old Ceremony, Generationals, Cheyenne Marie Maze, Woodsman, Dinosaur Feathers, All Tiny Creatures, Frontier Ruckus, Apex Manor, Bandway, Fight the Big Bull, Reading Rainbow, Wooden Wand, Des Ark, Grandchildren, Man/Miracle, Horseback, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Body, Prurient, Frank Fairfield, Flight, Gauntlet Hair, William Tyler, Duane Pitre Sextet, Jennyanykind, Chip Robinson, Tyvek, Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross, Andrew Cedermark, Mandolin Orange, Spider Bags, Mount Eerie, Last Year's Men, PC Worship, Jon Lindsay, Richard Bishop, Super Vacations, Onward Soldiers, Empress Hotel, Steve Gunn, Dustin Wong, Whatever Brains, David Daniell, Mount Moriah, Organos, King Mez, Apple Juice Kid, Thien, Jesse Sparhawk & Eric Carbonara, Invisible Hand, Carlitta Durand, Old Bricks, Black Twig Pickers, Dylan Gilbert, Tender Fruit, Twelve Thousand Armies, Filthybird, Yair Yona, Tomahawks, Caltrop, Wesley Wolfe, Family Dynamics, Heads on Sticks, Gross Ghost, Justin Robinson, Embarrassing Fruits, Yardwork, Soft Company, Cassis Orange, Wembley, Bustello, Le Weekend, Oulipo, Strugglers, Jack the Radio, The Moderate, Peter Lamb and the Wolves, Man Will Destroy Himself

You might want to block out Sept. 8-10 on your calendar, because there's going to be a bunch of bands -- a bunch of bands -- playing in Raleigh that you'll probably want to hear. That's the weekend of the second edition of the Hopscotch Music Festival, the particulars of which will be announced on April 20.

For now, I can tell you that they'll sell 3,300 wristbands this year, up from 2,500 last year; they'll go on sale the day of the big announcement, April 20, and cost from $65 to $160; the addition of Fletcher Opera Hall and White Collar Crime will bring the total up to 12 venues throughout downtown Raleigh; and of the 135 acts on the schedule, less than a dozen are repeats from last year.

Onstage at last weekend's Hopscotch Music Festival, Django Haskins of The Old Ceremony spied Megafaun's Brad Cook nodding along in the crowd and gave him a shout-out. "If you don't love Brad Cook," Haskins declared, "that only means you've never met him."

That's one reason why Megafaun is pretty much my favorite local band nowadays. In addition to putting on a live show that's one of the best around, Megafaun's members are kings of the good vibes. Cook, his brother Phil and Joe Westerlund seemed to be everywhere at Hopscotch -- and you always knew you were in the right place when you saw them.

But the biggest reason I love Megafaun is that they're always doing very cool projects, like this weekend's "Sounds of the South" live recording session in Durham. For particulars on that, see the story in Friday's paper.

Our photographers are prowling the clubs at this weekend's Hopscotch music festival. Check out some of their shots from opening night here, and we'll have more to come.

ADDENDUM: We've also got galleries of Hammer No More the Fingers, Ear Pwr, Javelin and Pictureplane.

SECOND ADDENDUM: Here's another.

Hopscotch won't just go on by night, but also by day. Click through for an interview with one of the bands playing a free day party on Saturday -- a member of this year's Great Eight class, as a matter of fact.

After more than a year of planning and late-night detail-sweating, the debut Hopscotch Music Festival gets going this week at multiple venues around downtown Raleigh. It's an ambitious undertaking, with 120-plus acts in 10 venues. And it represents an expensive gamble for The Independent, the local weekly paper that's putting it on. For more, see the preview in Sunday's paper.

ADDENDUM (9/7/10): Aw, NewRaleigh didn't like the story. I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you!