Live Concert Photography: New colossus Festival 2020: Hanya at The Bowery Electric 3/12/20
Co-founded by three New York music industry vets and longtime friends, Lorimer Beacon‘s founder and head Mike Bell, Kanine Records‘ founder and label head Lio Kanine and Kepler Events and Lola Live’s Steven Matrick, the second annual The New Colossus Festival took place between March 11, 2020-March 14, 2020. The festival featured more than 100 handpicked, emerging indie bands and artists from the US, Canada, the UK, the European Union, Australia, and Singapore. By design the festival took place just before SXSW: the festival’s co-founders view the festival as a pre-SXSW stopover that will give its emerging acts an opportunity to organically gain exposure – while filling a critical void in the festival circuit.
The festival’s second year found the festival expanding by leaps and bounds: while still featuring showcases at venues across the East Village and Lower East Side including Berlin Under A, Lola NYC, Pianos, The Bowery Electric, Arlene’s Grocery and The Delancey, the festival expanded to include scheduled showcases at The Bowery Ballroom and the recently added MOSCOT Eyewear, as well as Ludlow House. Unfortunately for all of us, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic during the festival’s second official day — and the world since then has spiraled even more out of control than ever before.
As a result of the pandemic, last year’s New Colossus Festival wound up being the last pre-COVID festival — and the last live music I’ve had a chance to see in person in close to a year. Now, as a great deal of you readers, who also follow me on Twitter and Facebook may remember, my mother was diagnosed with cancer in the beginning of the year. With mom being a part of the high risk category — she’s in her late 60s, has high blood pressure and at the time, had cancer — I had to cut my coverage of the festival a day short, out of a preponderance of caution.
Of course, much like my coverage of Winter Jazzfest early last year, I had intended to write an extensive review of New Colossus — but 2020. However, i did take a shit ton of photos that I’d love to share with you over the course of the next week or so. You’ll see photos of JOVM mainstays The Orielles, Beverly Kills and Hanya, as well as a bunch of acts that I hope you’ll check out and love.
Along with a stop at Arlene’s Grocery for Music Export Canada‘s Canadian Blast Showcase and a stop at Piano’s for Kanine Records’ Party, I went to The Bowery Electric to catch JOVM mainstays Hanya. Check out photos from the set below.
For these photos and more, check out the Flickr set here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmTBvb4p
