John Darnielle to Play Heavy Metal Cover Set at Hopscotch Festival

Raleigh, N.C.’s Hopscotch posted today that The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle is set to perform two solo sets in one night during the weekend-long music festival. Taking place at the Fletcher Opera Theater, both of Darnielle’s shows will feature the soul-baring singer/songwriter by himself on acoustic guitar and piano.

The first set will include a number of deep cuts and Mountain Goats rarities that fans have often requested. The second show, however, will be entirely covers, many of which will be heavy metal songs.

Since the fest isn’t until early September, Darnielle told Hopscotch that he plans to spend part of this summer arranging heavy metal songs and teaching himself covers.

“The tentative title for this set,” Darnielle told the fest organizers, “is ‘Nearer My Hateful Mankind Plague to Thee,’ but titles are subject to change.”

Hopscotch takes place Sept. 6-8 and the complete lineup will be announced April 18. Tickets cost $110-165 and are available here.

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