Live concert photography of Lauren Lakis, Astronomies and Gossamer Blue playing 2023's New Colossus Festival Shoegaze Party.

Live Concert Photography: The New Colossus Festival 2023: Day 4: 3/11/23: Shoegaze Party at Arlene’s Grocery feat. Lauren Lakis, Astronomies and Gossamer Blue

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.

During the 2023 edition’s fourth day, I stopped at Arlene’s for the annual shoegaze party to catch Lauren Lakis, Oslo‘s Astronomies, who were playing their first Stateside gig ever and Toronto‘s Gossamer Blue. Check out photos from the showcase below.