Live concert photography of Flowers for the DLive concert photography of Flowers for the Dead performing at last year's New Colossus Festival. ead performing at last year's New Colossus Festival.

Live Concert Photography: The New Colossus Festival: Day 3: Indie Pop Showcase at Arlene’s Grocery feat. Flowers for the Dead 3/8/24

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 fifth — er fourth? — edition took place last March in some of the Lower East Side’s best and renowned independent venues including Mercury Lounge, Berlin Under A, Arlene’s Grocery, The Bowery Electric, Heaven Can Wait, Pianos, and more.

The third day of last year’s edition was another busy day that had me bouncing back and forth between several venues in the Lower East Side to catch some more eclectic programming, including a stop at Arlene’s Grocery to catch Washington, DC-based shoegazers Flowers for the Dead play a set at the festival’s Indiepop showcase.