Hop Along played Paradise Rock Club – 12/29

Philly quartet Hop Along returned for one last 2018 Boston show at a sold-out Paradise with locals Horse Jumper of Love.

Hop Along’s short run of New Year’s shows – just Boston and a pair of dates at Jersey’s Asbury Lanes – could rightfully be called a victory lap for a pretty huge 2018. Frances Quinlan and company released their third proper full-length, the masterful, rightfully acclaimed Bark Your Head Off, Dog, in April, and spent much of the year bringing it on tour to their biggest audiences yet. It was my most-listened new record of last year, and I wasn’t surprised to see it resonating far and wide.

After headlining Royale in May and circling back for a low-key campus show in September with who knows how many gigs in between, one could reasonably expect that the band might take it easy over the holidays – or be sick of Boston, at least. But the mood of this Saturday night show caught them laid-back and celebratory, indulging in old deep cuts and an infectiously cheerful cover of Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You in the End.” Not to suggest that Hop Along shows are ordinarily a downer, but one got the sense that these year-enders functioned less as an extension of another promotional tour than something like the band’s company holiday party (except, y’know, in a reality where those are fun).

Earlier in the night, Boston trio Horse Jumper of Love kept an already-packed room engaged with music that’s not necessarily an easy first sell. Their sound is rooted in the bummer touchstones of 90s slowcore, beholden to the band’s own angsty internal logic, but the confidently measured conviction of their set made it easy to envision them connecting with more audiences beyond their usual underground circle in the not-so-distant future.

See photos from both sets below.