08/31/2026
Get ready, Hickory! 🎶 The Sails Original Music Series returns this Friday, Sept. 4, with crowd‑favorite New Translations kicking off September’s lineup at 7 p.m. on Union Square!
Fresh off major festival stages and a national tour, New Translations brings their energetic, genre-blurring sound back to downtown for a night you won’t want to miss. If you’ve seen them before… you know. 😉
Plus, experience Passions Alive, where local artist Dan Smith will create a live painting inspired by the music in real time — adding an exciting new layer to the show.
The concert is free, seating is available, and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. Enjoy food and drinks from nearby restaurants and ABC-permitted businesses within the Downtown Social District.
Make plans now, invite your friends, and join us under The Sails this Friday! Learn more at www.hickorync.gov/SailsMusic.
The City of Hickory’s Sails Original Music Series, presented by Protection Products, Inc., returns in September with the crowd-favorite New Translations on Friday, Sept. 4. The free concert begins at 7 p.m. on Union Square in downtown Hickory.
A desperate, all-consuming yearning has long powered New Translations. That feeling has always pulsed through their music—a swooning blend of aqueous synth-pop and gauzy alt-rock that feels both intimate and infinite—but the band has been evolving ever since releasing the escapist fantasia of their 2025 debut album, “Vacation.” At home in Nashville, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, FLOOD, and The Tennessean have spotlighted the quintet as leaders of an insurgent non-country Music City scene.
On the road, they’ve stepped onto bigger stages than ever before, including Bonnaroo and a national tour with Rainbow Kitten Surprise. They even came full circle during CMA Fest, earning headlines with a counterprogrammed rock takeover at JBJ’s. As the stakes rise, so does the longing—and New Translations have doubled down in the studio with genre-blurring producer Yves Rothman (Blondshell, FKA Twigs, Girlpool), expanding their sonic palette.
Their signature elements—glassine synths, post-punk basslines, sternum-rattling tom rolls—now mingle with bold new textures, from dazed dream-rock and towering sophistipop to the stormy dynamics of shoegaze.
Through it all, vocalist Oliver Pierce sings with the irrepressible urgency that comes when what you want most is almost within reach, yet not quite tangible—that “eternal reach,” as he describes it. “I hope to one day reach a point where I'm settled,” Pierce adds. “But right now, I’m chewing the bark off the trees and howling at the moon.”
“New Translations is like Musical Red Bull—energetic, non-stop fun from the first note to the last,” says Sails Music Coordinator Bob Sinclair. “We are so fortunate to have our New Translations friends back for the Sails Original Music Series. IYKYK...”
In addition to outstanding music, art and performance will come together in a fresh way this September. Passions Alive—a project produced by Bob Sinclair Music and supported by a grant from Arts Culture Catawba—will feature local visual artists creating live paintings during each concert. As artists capture the energy of the music in real time, audiences will experience a dynamic fusion of sound and art that adds a new dimension to this year’s series.
The featured artist for the Sept. 4 Sails concert is Dan Smith, a multidisciplinary creator whose lifelong fascination with the human face has shaped a diverse body of work spanning painting, drawing, photography, landscapes, and large-scale abstract oil dreamscapes inspired by his return to North Carolina. Smith’s work crosses political, aesthetic, ethical, and ideological boundaries, embracing coincidence, poetic language, and the often-unresolved nature of personal experience. His practice includes reading, writing, performing, and teaching, all part of a broad aesthetic lifestyle that informs his art.
Smith’s live artwork from the performance will be auctioned at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, at NoCo Arts in Newton, with proceeds supporting future Bob Sinclair Music art-and-music experiences.
Started in 2012, the City of Hickory’s Sails Original Music Series highlights well-crafted live music by bringing original artists to The Sails on the Square. The series, a Bob Sinclair Music production, features national and international touring acts and is made possible through generous support from presenting sponsor Protection Products, Inc., as well as Larry’s Music & Sound, Pfahlert Creative Labs, Olde Hickory Brewery, and Crowne Plaza.
In addition to the seating available on Union Square, attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets. A variety of nearby bars and restaurants offer convenient food and beverage options. ABC-permitted businesses within the Hickory Downtown Social District will sell b**r, w**e, and other alcoholic beverages in specially marked cups that may be consumed on Union Square, surrounding sidewalks, and other public areas within the district. No outside alcohol may be brought into the district. For additional guidelines and a detailed map of the social district, visit www.hickorync.gov/downtown-social-district.
The Sails Original Music Series continues with Mellow Swells on Sept. 11, Pressing Strings on Sept. 18, and N-Spire Band on Sept. 26.
To learn more about the series and view the upcoming schedule, visit www.hickorync.gov/SailsMusic and follow the Sails Original Music Series page at www.facebook.com/SailsMusic.
