Live concert photography of the Upstairs Neighbours Showcase at Arelene's Grocery, The New Colossus Festival 2023.

Live Concert Photography: the New Colossus Festival 2023: Day 1: 3/8/23: Upstairs Neighbours Showcase Presented by CIMA, M for Montréal and The Consulate General of Canada in NY at Arlene’s Grocery feat. Absolutely Free, ALIAS and Naya Ali

Occasionally, I have some terrible luck with technology. As a very busy journalist and photographer, who frequently covers over 100 shows a year, plus festivals and other public events in New York, I take a shit ton of photos throughout the course of a year. And if I don’t fill up hard drives at a rapid-fire pace, they somehow wind up malfunctioning — at the most inopportune time.

Sometime in late 2023 or early last year, I purchased a portable hard drive from my local Best Buy. That hard drive failed after I had shot and uploaded photos from last year’s The New Colossus Festival and Easter Bonnet Parade in Midtown. Unbelievably, the hard drive failed while I was editing photos!

As I was doing some research on my failed hard drive, I quickly learned that my particular issue was something that countless users across the country were also complaining about. And it was linked to a particular batch of hard drives manufactured within a year or so period, which of course, included my malfunctioning hard drive.

So, I contacted the manufacturer and complained. Thankfully, because the drive was still under warranty, the manufacturer sent me a replacement drive and a link to a recovery program that was supposed to help recover the data on the failed drive.

But the recovery program didn’t work. I wound up spending $100 on a recovery program, which recovered 99% of my files, including unpublished photos from 2023’s The New Colossus Festival that I thought were lost.

Some background for those of you, who may be new: Co-founded back in 2018 by three New York music industry vets and longtime friends, former Lorimer Beacon founder and head Mike Bell, Kanine Records‘ founder and label head Lio Kanine and Kepler Events‘ and Dedstrange Records co-founder Steven Matrick, The New Colossus Festival over the course of the past couple of years has featured several hundred handpicked, emerging indie bands and artists from Canada, the UK, the European Union, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course, the US.

Since its founding, the festival has quickly established itself as the first stop in New York and in the US for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy international artists. Notable festival alumni include a number of JOVM mainstays including GIFT, Penelope Isles, The Orielles, Thus Love, as well as Pom Poko, Pom Pom Squad, Sid Simons, Sobs, Water From Your Eyes, Peel Dream Magazine, Kiwi Jr., and a growing list of others.

The festival’s fourth edition took place between March 8, 2023 – March 12, 2023 in some of the Lower East Side’s renowned independent music venues, including Mercury Lounge, Berlin Under A, Arlene’s Grocery, The Bowery Electric, Pianos, and more.

I went from Piano’s to Arlene’s Grocery for the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), M for Montréal and The Consulate General of Canada in New York sponsored Upstairs Neighbours Showcase, which featured Toronto-based psych pop outfit Absolutely Free, who played material off their excellent 2021 effort Aftertouch, Montréal-based rocker ALIAS and Montréal-based emcee Naya Ali. Check out photos below.