Live Concert Review: New Colossus 2025 Highlights

Live Concert Review: New Colossus 2025 Highlights

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 has quickly established itself as the first stop in New York and/or the first stop in the States for a growing number of emerging and buzzworthy artists and bands, who make the pit stop in town before heading down to Austin for SXSW. 

In previous editions of the festival JOVM mainstays GIFT, Penelope Isles, The Orielles, Thus Love, as well as acclaimed acts like Pom Poko, Pom Pom Squad, Sid Simons, Sobs, Water From Your Eyes, Peel Dream Magazine, Kiwi Jr., and a growing list of others have made a names for themselves playing New Colossus showcases across a handful of Lower East Side-based venues and clubs. 

The New Colossus Festival’s sixth edition took place earlier this month – March 4, 2025 – March 9, 2025 – and it was the biggest edition in the festival’s history to date: Some 180+ bands and artists from the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Wales Ireland, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Australia and elsewhere played showcases and sets at festival stalwart locations like Berlin Under A, Arlene’s Grocery,  The Bowery Electric, and Piano’s, as well as new participating spots like Sugar Mouse, DROM, Niagara, NUBLU and NUBLU Classic, and Parkside Lounge. The festival also welcomed the return of Baker Falls, which took over the beloved Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 space on Allen Street earlier this year. 

For a variety of reasons, including a couple that I won’t get into on this space, this year’s New Colossus Festival coverage will be very different. While I did catch some 38-39 sets across the festival’s run, I will be focusing on some personal highlights with some thoughts and photos. I’ll be frank: JOVM has mostly been a one-man band since its inception and with all the shows, writing, interview requests and everything else, festival coverage just takes way too long. I’m trying to be a little bit more efficient when I can around here. (For the other acts I’ve caught during this year’s TNCF, I will hopefully produce photos for y’all later.) 

Day 2: March 5, 2025: M for Montréal Showcase

DROM

85 Avenue A

With The New Colossus Festival traditionally taking place in early March, there’s almost always one day in which the weather is miserable: We’re talking about cold paired with wind-blown and torrential rain, followed by cold and damp. Yep, some of that “lousy smarch weather.”  And as it turned out, the festival’s second day – March 5, 2025 – was the terrible weather day. 

The first stop of the night was to the Lower East Side’s renowned “world music’ spot DROM for the annual M for Montréal showcase. The M for Montréal showcase is typically a personal highlight for me: It’s an opportunity reconnect with both Montréal and Canadian industry pals. As a journalist, it’s an opportunity to catch some of Montréal’s and Canada’s buzziest bands. And they regularly serve food and a free drink to New Colossus Festival delegates. Who can complain about that? 

I originally intended to make a pit stop at Piano’s Upstairs Lounge to catch Toronto-based singer/songwriter Chloë Doucet and then return to DROM for two sets but as it turned out, there was a last-minute schedule change that inadvertently created a conflict. Ugh! But even if there wasn’t a conflict, the weather was so shitty that I would be easily tempted to change my plans. Sadly, I couldn’t catch Doucet’s second – and last – New Colossus Festival set. Understandably, with the current economic and political climate, it may be some time until I’ll get a chance to catch her. 

The M for Montréal showcase featured two acts that quickly captured my attention. 

Montréal-based JOVM mainstays  Diamond Day. The duo features two individually acclaimed musicians and recording artists: 

• Vermont-born Béatrix Méthé. Methê was raised with the traditional music of rural Québec. Her family relocated to Canada, where she grew up  acquiring Lanaudiere’s regional repertoire from her father, the founder of legendary folk-trad group Le Rêve du Diable. Her mother, a singer-songwriter and fine arts graduate versed in early digital media, inspired Méthé’s own aesthetic. After spending some time venturing deeper into visual art, Béthé moved to Montréal to study filmmaking, but wound up discovering indie and psychedelic folk music along the way. She cut her studies short in 2015 to pursue music full-time, fronting acclaimed outfit Rosier, whose unique fusion of Québécois folk and indie rock garnered multiple nominations and awards — and lead them to tour across 15 countries with stops at SXSW, NPR’s Mountain Stage and the BBC. 
• Western Canada-born Quinn Bachand. Bachand grew up in a home where art was omnipresent, and the family’s 40-year-old record collection was on a seemingly infinite loop. As the son of a luthier, Bachand began playing guitars handmade by his father and was touring internationally by the time he turned 12. After graduating from Berklee College of Music  in 2019 on a presidential scholarship, the Western Canadian-born multi-instrumentalist spent time in the Grammy-nominated band Kittel & Co. His involvement in the US folk scene prompted collaborations with a number of like-minded artists, including Chris Thile. In 2019, Bachand began collaborating with Méthé and Rosier, quickly establishing himself as an influential, genre-bending producer.

Bachand’s work with Rosier directly led to his collaboration with Methé in Diamond Day. Their full-length debut, last year’s Connect the Dots saw the band quickly establishing a sound that effortlessly weaved together elements of folk, indie rock, electronica, shoegaze and dream pop into a unique, painterly take on alt-pop. 

Bachand, armed with a guitar and clad in a dark-colored trench coat and Methé clad in a beige trench coat, stood on opposite sides of a folding table covered with a white cloth and synths and samplers. For the duration of the set’s music portion, the pair mostly looked at each other. The exception: Methé had some brief stage banter in which she faced the crowd. It was a bit odd. But it fit them. 

Sonically, the duo’s M for Montréal showcase set revealed a languorous and hooky bit of dream pop anchored around synths, guitar and Methé’s gorgeous vocal. The material had me and the rest of the DROM crowed mesmerized while reminding me a bit of Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry-era Beach House, and fellow Montréalers and JOVM mainstays Bodywash. 

Montréal-based quartet FUUDGE describes their sound as “heavy, French-language rock, inspired by grunge, stoner, noise and psychedelic music, among others.” The quartet, which featured synths/guitar, vocals/bass, guitar and drums/vocals had a live sound that kind of reminded me of Montréal-based trio zouz and JOVM mainstays Population II – but somehow much harder with elements of Melvins, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Moving Pictures-era Rush (perhaps because of the synths), Queens of the Stone Age  and Soundgarden with a little hint of At The Drive In. We’re talking about bombastic, power chord fueled riffs, beer-raised-high-in-the-air-while-shouting-along friendly hooks and choruses and thunderous drumming paired with old-school metal screams and yowls. Simply put, these guys kicked ass – and watching them headbang throughout their set was a deliriously fun cliché. 

Day 2: March 5, 2025: Baker Falls

192 Allen Street

Marvin’s Revenge

Right after FUUDGE’s M for Montréal showcase set, I packed up my camera gear and made my way to Baker Falls’ new Allen Street location in a drenching rain to catch rising British outfit Marvin’s Revenge. 

Marvin’s Revenge – longtime friends Luke Eaton (bass, vocals), Oliver Sammels-Moore (guitar) and Job Gregory (drums) – originally formed in the British Midlands and relocated to Nottingham.  Throughout the band’s history, they’ve developed a unique, genre-defying take on alternative rock inspired by The Jesus Lizard, Pixies and Fugazi, which they firmly established with 2023’s Harry’s Redroom EP and VR Porn EP. 

The Nottingham-based trio followed up in 2024 with three singles ‘Hugs from grandma,” “Big Snake” and “Eating Flowers,” all of which continued to showcase the band’s genre-defying sound and approach. 

I was surprised by how hard their material was live. The set’s first song was a ripper that sounded indebted to Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age-like stoner rock. The second song displayed how eclectic their influences were – with the song sounding like a mix of Joy Division and Arctic Monkeys, complete with big riffs and even bigger choruses and hooks. The rest of the set featured material that seemingly drew from Tool, Soundgarden and Nirvana while displaying an uncanny knack for big, mosh pit friendly hooks. 

Simply put, I was very impressed. 

Day 3: March 6, 2025: Viva Sounds Festival Showcase

Baker Falls

192 Allen Street 

Founded by Westside Music back in 2017, Gothenburg-based music festival Viva Sounds showcases a collection of Swedish, Scandinavian and international acts playing at small and mid-sized clubs across Sweden’s second largest city. 

Viva Sounds’ New Colossus Festival showcase at Baker Falls featured three Swedish acts across a spectrum of indie, garage and alternative rock – SUNHILL, SODAKILL and Telos Vision. 

Telos Vision is the recording project of Gothenburg-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Teodor Boogh.  Boogh has made a name for himself by collaborating with some of his homeland’s biggest and most acclaimed artists as a producer and musician, including members of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Graveyard, Little Dragon, The Hellacopters and a growing list of others. 

Boogh spent a year in the studio writing and recording his most recent Telos Vision album, 2023’s Traces of Light, an effort that saw the Gothenburg-based artist recording, mixing and playing most of the material’s instrumental parts. Drawing from his longtime inspirations like George Harrison, Jonathan Wilson and The War On Drugs, the album’s material features synths and a much more polished sound. 

The Gothenburg-based artist fronted and played guitar while being backed by a band that features keys and vocals, bass and drums. Boogh and his backing band played material that drew from 70s AM rock and garage rock, while showcasing an artist who can write a remarkably catchy hook. To me, the biggest highlights of the set was a catchy motorik groove-driven rocker that caught my attention and the set’s closer “Perspective,” a full-throated and expansive, Neil Young and Crazy Horse-like anthem. 

Sodakill is a Stockholm-based quartet – Julia, Beatrice, Astrid and My — tthat specializes in a genre that they’ve dubbed “sodapunk,” which sees them meshing elements of an eclectic array of influences including surf punk, doom metal, glam, pop and others. Their high-energy live sets, which frequently inspire sweaty mosh pits and metal/devil horns flashed by the crowd have helped the band draw comparisons to the likes of Hole, Turbonegro, Refused and Bikini Kill among others. Not a bad group of acts to be compared to, if you ask me. But I also got a sense of a raw, feral quality that reminded me a bit of Is Is EP and Fever to Tell-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  

Live some of those comparisons aren’t unwarranted – the similarities to riot grrl punk are uncanny. Yes, there’s fury there and its righteous, but there’s a joyful mischief in everything this Swedish quartet does, and it was attention grabbing and cathartic. Another comparison came to mind, London-based JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos, who may be one of the most fun live bands working today. 

Adding to the fun, the band’s lead singer and lead guitarist would frequently step on the stage’s railing to vamp and preen for photographers, before jumping into the crowd to start a mosh pit. These Swedes won over a bunch of jaded New York industry folks. That’s something. 

I ran into the band a couple of times throughout much of the festival’s run and they proved themselves to be among the loveliest and sweetest folks I’ve met in some time. 

Day 3: March 6, 2025: Annibale Booking Showcase

Berlin Under A

25 Avenue A

Annibale Booking is a Florence Italy-based independent music agency. As a booking agent, they help arrange almost every element of a tour for both international bands making a run of the UK and European Union circuit, and for Italian bands touring across Italy. The label, which was founded back in 2015 has released 18 albums from an eclectic collection of international bands. And since 2013, they’ve run Annibale Night, a Florence-based music festival that showcases some of the world’s best and emerging psych rock, exotic rock and rock bands. Some of the bands that have played the festival include Sonic Jesus, New Candys, Night Beats, We Melt Chocolate, Death Valley Girls and a lengthy list of others. 

Berlin Under A hosted the Italian music agency’s inaugural New Colossus Festival showcase, which featured an eclectic array of acts and arguably one of the more memorable showcases. As y’all know, I’ve been to something like 1,500-1,600 shows as a fan and as a journalist. And yet, I still wind up seeing something I’ve never seen before! This one was the first showcase I’ve ever been to where fuses throughout the room blew out. At one point, half the room was dark while the bar’s POS system was still running. A barback ran in behind a band as they were playing to fiddle with the fuses behind them. He then ran over to behind the bar to fiddle with the fuses there. Gradually a solution was found – albeit temporarily. 

Normandy, France-based outfit You Said Strange specialize in a sound that features elements of psych rock, shoegaze and proto-grunge. The quartet’s material is routinely inspired by their experiences and their relationship with the world. Thematically, their material explores how we function in our relationships and personal achievements while touching upon love, self-confidence, betrayal and disillusionment. 

Their latest EP, last year’s Trade Your Soul completes the French outfit’s Thousand Shadows Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 project with previously unreleased and bonus tracks. Their Annibale Booking set at Berlin Under A revealed a band that crafted big hook-driven anthems with shoegazer textures, post-punk angles and motirk grooves, all while part of their set was marred with some weird sound issues. In some way, they reminded me a bit of Montréal’s Solipssime but much harder and with lyrics written and sung in English. 

New York-based synth punk trio Public Circuit describe their sound as “marrying the late 70s minimal synth punk ethos of Nervous Gender and Units with the romanticism of New Order and Depeche Mode.” The trio which featured vocals/synths, synths/vocals and drums played a set of material that struck me as being a bit of a punkier Holy Fuck with a bit of New Wave and post punk, punctuated by their lead singer’s shouts and howls and punchily delivered vocals. There was even a song that struck me as being a bit like Giorgio Moroder in hell – but just as danceable. Simply put, it fucking ripped – and their lead singer had a frenetic stage presence and energy that really caught my attention. 

With the release of their full-length debut, 2021’s GOLLY, Mexico City-based trio Mengers — Carlos Calderón (vocals, guitar), Mauricio Moncada (bass, vocals) and Pablo Calderón (drums) — quickly established a sound that meshed elements of punk and psychedelia, while thematically offering a complex critique and chronicle of life in their hometown. The album featured singles that received airplay on local rock radio stations, and adding to a growing profile locally and regionally, they played that year’s Hipnosis Festival and contributed a session to KEXP’s Latin American culture celebration Aqui y Ahora.

The trio closed out the year with GOLLY landing on the Best Of lists of local underground blogs. 

The Mexican trio’s sophomore album, 2022’s i/O derives its title from the “on/off” symbols designed by the International Electrotechnical Commission, which appears on most electronic devices across the globe. Sonically, the album is an expansion of their sound with the trio adopting elements of post-punk and art rock to the mix of punk and psychedelia that won them attention. While arguably among the most ambitious material of their growing catalog to date, the album explores much more personal themes. Partially inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on their individual and collective psyches, the album attempts to make sense of a world in crisis while reflecting on the fear, unease, repetition, boredom, isolation and the feeling of life – and in turn, time – being wasted away. 

i/O landed on the Best Latin Albums of the Year lists of Rolling Stone Mexico, Remezcla, Mexican newspapers, radio stations and blogs. With a growing national and international profile, the band played Chicago’s Ruido Fest, one of the biggest Latin American Music festivals in the States; Freakout Festival; as well, as making tour stops in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. 

Their live set, which saw them playing as a quartet – guitar/vocals, bass, guitar/synths and drums/vocals – revealed a band that effortlessly paired forceful, motorik grooves with remarkably catchy hooks and punk rock swagger. Sadly, this was only the second set of the festival that had folks in the small room moshing.

Day 4: March 7, 2025: Planetary Group Presents Showcase

Piano’s 

159 Ludlow Street 

Before, I left the M for Montréal showcase at DROM during The New Colossus Festival’s second day, my colleague Mikey Rishwain Bernard, M for Montréal’s Program Director, told me “You really need to catch Truck Violence.” Coincidentally, I had planned to catch them at Planetary Group’s annual New Colossus Festival showcase, which took place during the afternoon of the festival’s fourth day. 

Lead by singer/songwriter and poet Karsyn Henderson, the Montréal-based punk quartet Truck Violence can trace their origins back to small town Alberta, where Henderson and his bandmates spent their formative years. Their critically applauded full-length debut, last year’s Violence sonically meshes elements of hardcore punk, folk and poetry.

Live, the Montréal outfit’s sound reminded me a bit of YHWH Nailgun and Napalm Death – but at times sludgier and nastier while expressing the frustration, unease and boredom of small-town life, seemingly from the perspective of a weirdo, who never could fit in. Punctuated with Henderson’s shouts, howls and poetic musings, Truck Violence’s live sound brought old-school NYC hardcore and a bit of No Wave to mind. Simply put, they fucking ripped – and hard. 

Among all the bands I caught at The New Colossus Festival’s sixth edition, Truck Violence arguably had the most unique, eye-catching and downright difficult to shoot stage presence: The three non-drum kit members frenetically and furiously stomped, stormed and bop around the stage as though they were performing completely different styles and genres of music. At one point, their guitarist broke a string and managed to quickly replace it – in almost one fell motion. 

Typically, for festivals like New Colossus, afternoon showcase programming tends to take place during the last half of the festival’s run – i.e., days three, four or five. By then, the industry professionals are exhausted, hung-over and fucked up. You or your colleagues and festival friends are looking at each other with thousand-yard stares, as you’re trying to remember what you’ve done, who you met and when you met them. The energy manages to be very weird. And in the case of Truck Violence, I wish I could have caught them in a room like Berlin Under A, where for whatever reason, the crowds were a bit more enthusiastic. 

Day 4: March 7, 2025: Indiepop Showcase

Baker Falls

192 Allen Street

Montrêal-based duo Bibi Club – Adèle Trottier (vocals, keys) and Nicolas Basque (guitar) – closed out the annual Indiepop Showcase at Baker Falls during the festival’s fourth day. 

The duo specialize in a sound that they’ve dubbed living room party music. Live their sound brought Drab Majesty, Vowws and Beach House with nods to surf rock to mind, but anchored around catchy hooks, some fuzzy and muscular guitar work and at times a playful melodicism. 

Each song of their set showcased the duo’s remarkable chemistry and their ability to create moments that would have your ears perk up from something unexpected – or just delightful. 

Honestly, all the Montréalers playing the festival this year brought back very fond memories of one of my favorite cities while serving as a reminder of how deep and talented their scene is. 

Day 6: March 9, 2025: Closing (Day) Party

Arlene’s Grocery 

95 Stanton Street 

By the time, the festival’s sixth and final day rolled around, I had been struggling with a cold for the better part of about a day or so. I had a terrible cough that made me sound as though I were a character in a Thomas Hardy novel, dying from “the consumption.”  Cough drops were a necessity. And I was going through them eight or ten at a time. The show must go on, right folks? 

The sixth day began with a stop at Arlene’s Grocery to catch rising Dutch-born, London-based artist Sarah-Jayne “SJ” Riedel, the creative mastermind behind Dutch Mustard. With Dutch Mustard, Riedel blends ethereal dream pop, 90s alt-rock with shoegaze touches to create a soundscape that features painterly and swirling guitar textures paired with vocals that drift between a near whisper and yearning, heavenly arching shouts. 

Riedel exploded into the British scene with the release of 2022’s Dutch Mustard debut EP An Interpretation of Depersonalisation, an effort that was featured by the BBC while receiving airplay on BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders and a co-sign from the legendary Iggy Pop.

2023’s sophomore EP,  Beauty received airplay from BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne and co-signs from Don Letts and Amy Lamé. Adding to a growing profile, The Independent, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Dork and Notion have all covered her — and The Grammy Awards selected her a one of 6 Female Fronted Acts Reviving Rock, along with Wet Leg. 

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year or so, you might remember that I’ve written about two Dutch Mustard singles: 

• The Bill Ryder-Jones and Riedel co-written and co-produced “Loser,” a catharsis-inducing, 120 Minutes MTV alt rock-era anthem built around swirling shoegazer guitar textures, rousingly anthemic, shout along worthy hooks and chorus serving as a lush and downright perfect vehicle for the rising Dutch-born, London-based artist’s vulnerable, yet equally enormous vocal. 
• “Dreaming,” a song that not only showcases Riedel’s gorgeous vocal, but reveals a songwriting with an unerring knack for pairing earnest, seemingly lived-in songwriting with catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks. Sonically, “Dreaming” sees Riedel subtly and boldly pushing the boundaries of shoegaze in new directions. 

Based on just the two singles I heard and wrote about, I was excited to catch Riedel, who was backed by an incredibly tight backing band featuring guitar, bass and drums.  The set started on an attention-grabbing note with a big, anthemic shoegazer tune that would have given RIDE’s “Leave Them All Behind” and others a run for their money while anchored around her gorgeous delivery. At points during the set, Riedel’s delivery reminded me a bit of The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. The rest of the set showcased a self-assured frontperson with a tight, road-tested backing band, playing crafted material with an effortless aplomb and a deep soulfulness. The early afternoon Arlene’s Grocery crowd was won over by the material – but they were also won over by Riedel’s beauty and charm: At one point, she joked that she found everyone in NYC so welcoming that she wanted to move here. 

When the set ended, I was certain that Riedel has a big future ahead of her. I’m looking forward to what’s next. 

Day 6: March 9, 2025: Maker Park Radio Showcase 

Piano’s Upstairs Lounge

158 Ludlow

I closed out the festival with a stop at Piano’s Upstairs lounge to catch Dutch punks Cloudsurfers. Their sophomore album, 2023’s Abel de Grefte-produced Subhuman Essence sees the band attempting to match their boisterous stage hijinks on record. Rather than trakcing and laying instrumental and vocal parts separately, de Grefte insisted the band should lay down album tracks live in the control room, allowing all the signals and energies smolder into each other. With the risk of one member potentially fucking up everything being ever-present, each take was a high-stakes affair, which lead to a wave of relief after nailing it. 

Subhuman Essence sees the Dutch band – Thom Liesting (vocals, guitar), Nanne Hatzman (drums), Ramses Hooymeijer (drums), Pieter Sloot (guitar) and Jess van der Zee (bass) – firmly cementing a sound that meshes elements of garage punk, grunge and psych rock in a way that may remind some listeners of The Oh Sees, Frankie and the Witch Fingers and others. 

Their Maker Park Radio Showcase was one of the most high-energy, old-school punk-like sets of the entire festival. Live, their sound and stage presence reminded a bit of a mix of The Oh Sees, Arctic Monkeys delivered with a road-tested swagger. And the small, afternoon crowd really responded, making the floor rock and roll from their jumping about in unison. Honestly, that was the first time I had felt that in several months!

The fourth song of their set was a particular highly, as it featured a palpable meanness and nastiness to it, that to me felt like it captured the overall mood lately. It’s as though the song said, “shit is really fucked up, yell, scream and mosh with a new friend – or an old one, who cares?” The band ended their set with a furious cover of Nirvana’s “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter,” that would have made Kurt feel deeply proud. 

Was it the most original, boundary breaking thing I’ve ever seen? No! But at the same time, you ain’t got to reinvent the wheel. Just be passionate and give a shit about your songs. The crowd will always respond. 

Some Final Thoughts

It isn’t an easy feat to book over 180+ bands and having them play at 12 or 13 venues – a handful being first time participants – and having it run as seamlessly as it did, is a rare feat. Rarer still, is when thing do go wrong, that a venue, bands and attendees all take it in stride, and then do what they could to keep the show, and the good times rolling. This is a testament to the professionalism, dedication and love from festival’s organizers, the countless staff and volunteers, the band and the attendees. 

I’ve said this before to colleagues and friends, New York audience can be the fucking worst – especially if it’s an industry show. The six-day run of The New Colossus Festival was a welcome respite, with folks who were not just pleasant and good natured but deeply engaged in the music right in front of them. As it should fucking be! 

What I’ve loved about each edition of New Colossus is the sense of unbridled music discovery that is the heart and soul of my work. The sixth edition delivered – and then some. The festival puts the New York scene into a larger, global context that’s much needed considering the xenophobia, racism, transphobia, homophobia and cruelty of the Trump Administration. I’ve met countless friends and colleagues from across the States, Canada, the European Union and elsewhere – and have traveled to some of the most unlikely places because of music. Music will broaden your world and worldview, if you’re open to it.