Live Concert Photography: New Colossus Festival 2020: The Orielles at Piano’s 3/13/20
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.
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.
March 13, 2020 is a day I’ll remember for the rest of my life: it’s the last full and night of live music I’ve experienced as a result of the pandemic. My afternoon started with at MOSCOT Eyewear for the MOSCOT and AdHoc Presents sponsored New Colossus Festival showcase featuring Luke De-Sciscio, Jackie, Connor Yorke Martin, Wyldest and Hussy. After the showcase, I walked up to Piano’s, where I had my last pint of Guinness in a bar and toasted to the end of the world with the festival’s very worried organizers while waiting for Deena Lynch, best known as Jaguar Jonze, for an interview and an impromptu portrait session. After the interview, I went back inside to catch JOVM mainstays The Orielles play one of their first Stateside shows ever. Check out photos below.
For these photos and more, check out the Flickr set here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmTCe8xT
