Dear friends,
This year is coming to a close and all we can think about is how excited we are to get together again in March. As we look back on 2021, we’re reminded of the most important thing we have and that’s each other. The New Colossus Festival set out to be more than a music festival and we’re extremely proud of the community we’re building around our mutual love of live music. Though we weren’t able to hold the festival last March, we kept busy throughout the year with New Colossus Sessions, Summer Sundays at 18th Ward Brewery and more.
First, a little news...
We’re pleased to welcome Beach Body (CA), Cedric Noel (CA), End of Fun (SE), Escorpio (ES), Fears (UK), Ghost Woman (CA), Hause Plants (PT), I AM DIVE (ES), Katy J Pearson (UK), Liily (US), Marissa Burwell (CA), Randy Randall (of No Age) (US), The Death Of Robert (ES), Thus Love (Captured Tracks - US), Westelaken (CA), and Yeah Baby (US) to the lineup in March! You might notice a few artists coming in from Spain. This is thanks to our partnership with The Spanish Wave.
Festival badges are available here: https://link.dice.fm/EHnkAGBhLjb and you can enjoy the updated festival playlist with the new additions here: https://linktr.ee/newcolossusfestival.
If you’re in NYC this Thursday (Dec 16), please join us at Our Wicked Lady as we celebrate the release of a new beer called “Shoegazer” with our friends from Single Cut Brewery with live performances from our pals Heaven, Yeah Baby, and Ceremony East Coast with DJ sets by Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers) and our own Lio Kanine.
Lastly, our friends at Funhouse are offering a 20% discount on merch for artists. Just let them know The New Colossus Festival sent you when you get in touch.
Email: fun@funhousehouse.fun
Website: https://funhousehouse.fun/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/funhouse_screenprinting
We made a playlist highlighting some of the amazing artists we teamed up with at The New Colossus Sessions and our Summer Sundays series to celebrate 2021. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FdQ9gvsMNpKJtKnHfDaHN?si=ca7df8b65b694c86&nd=1
When we launched “The New Colossus Sessions” in 2020, it was an outlet to feature some of our favorite artists from around the world. Some of them will be joining us in person in March including: Alicia Clara (CA), Ciel (UK), Paul Jacobs (CA), Qlowski (IT/UK), Sahara (CA), Tallies (CA), Toflang (ES), and Zoon (CA).
In March we hosted “upstairs neighbours week”, a four-day series of The New Colossus Sessions featuring artists from across Canada. This was presented with our friends at Exclaim! And made possible through CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association), the Consulate General of Canada in NY, and all of our friends at the provincial associations such as Music Ontario, Sask Music, Alberta Music, Manitoba Music, and Music Nova Scotia along with FACTOR, SOCAN, and more.
Additionally, we hosted other international showcases such as “Italian Sounds” with Italia Music Export featuring Ash Code, New Candys and Qlowski. We also hosted the Spanish Wave Showcase live from Madrid with Dharmacide, Go Cactus, and Olivia is a Ghost.
While the sessions were a lot of fun to put together, we were eager to get back to the live experiences. As soon as it was possible to do so, we started hosting a weekly outdoor series at 18th Ward Brewery in Brooklyn. These day shows happened every Sunday featuring five bands per week and brought back the community vibes we haven’t felt since the Jelly Pool Parties. Highlights included TNCF family such as Shilpa Ray, Teenage Halloween, Babehoven, Bodega Ben, and more. We’re really excited to reconnect with some of these bands indoors in March including: A Very Special Episode, Cigarettes For Breakfast, Climates, Dead Tooth, Forever Honey, Jelly Kelly, Love, Burns, Nicole Mercedes, OK Cowgirl and Yours Are The Only Ears.
Shilpa Ray | Photo by Sam Buksbaum
We are so psyched to feature one of our favorite bands, the legendary A Place To Bury Strangers, on the first episode of Global Sounds representing NYC. Their performance was shot at @berlin.undernyc and the footage features many of our favorite places on the Lower East Side.
GLOBAL SOUNDS is a new online music show presented by John Kennedy from Radio X in the UK. The show travels the world to meet artists and industry players via live performances and interviews. Every episode will provide an insider's guide to each city known for great music, including: Mexico City, New York City, Seville, London, Gothenburg, Beijing, Seoul and Melbourne. Watch it here:
Overall, we’re looking forward to the 3rd edition of the New Colossus Festival in 2022 and optimistic that we’ll soon be getting off of this crazy, rickety roller coaster and back to “normal”. Stay tuned for more info at the top of 2022 and see you in March!
The New Colossus Festival Team