New Colossus: Thursday
Landing at Nublu Classic and Pianos on March 6, 2025
The Croaks rock the escoffions at Nublu Classic on Thursday, March 6 2025.
The banners are falling at Pianos, but People In The Daytime are on the job.
They call this music festival the New Colossus. That’s no joke. Hump Day News counted one hundred and ninety-six bands, playing on twelve stages, spread over six days in this sixth edition of the festival. That’s the kind of critical mass you can reach when you’ve timed your event as a landing pad for international acts on their way to an even bigger festival, SXSW. But New Colossus does just fine on its own merits, thanks. Local, national, and international talent converge on the Lower East Side to play music, make memories, and trade notes on chopped cheese. “Hey, I’m walking here!”
The Croaks at Nublu Classic
The Croaks
The Croaks arrived onstage at Nublu Classic wearing 15th century horned escoffions on their heads, which tracks for a band whose latest single “Poppy” folks the punk in 3/4 time. The Boston four-piece have fun with their throwback aesthetic.
A violin checked in for an extended drone ditty – hat tip to Lower East Side legend’s of yore, Velvet Underground. Marginalized time signatures aside, it’s the rock n roll rhythm section under the hood that makes this engine purr. Bass, drums, flour, eggs, and water.
When the fronter ran out of medieval lays to spit, the band threw all the ingredients against the wall for an old school, all ages, VFW Hall-type punk phreakout finish. The bartender on duty, who never heard of New Colossus and hasn’t had a good night of sleep in weeks, was duly impressed.
WATCH THE CROAKS LIVE ↓
People In The Daytime at Pianos
People In The Daytime
Cleveland’s People In The Daytime rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Literally. Not “literally” literally, but more like “figuratively” literally, when the neo-funk poppers put aside their instruments during the pre-show warmups to fix the flagging New Colossus vinyl banner at the back of the stage. A little can-do Midwestern spirit to kick off a set that sounded like four Har Mar Superstars walked into a bar and said “Ouch!”
Meanwhile, their manager floated around the pit, inspecting festival badges, saying things like: “Are you press?”, “Who are you writing for?”, and “Never heard of it.” A real charmer. And can we talk about what kind of low-wattage grift it must be to manage a band whose “Live Shows” section of their website reads “Check Back in February” in March? This guy can go “manage” me a latte, pronto.
Tell A Vision at Pianos
Tell A Vision
Germany’s Tell A Vision solo appearance felt more like an art house happening than a live music show. The set unfolded in two distinct modes. The first mode played out like an electro pop karaoke session, Bauhaus-style. The second mode involved a vintage Silvertone guitar, a six-string model that hasn’t seen such discordant plucking since Beck had one foot in the grave.
One of many Silvertone sightings at New Colossus. Strange. The brand was originally sold at Sears up until 1972, by which time everyone realized it was garbage. All the same, the guitars were rebranded as “vintage” in the 90s and enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity. Nobody knows why.
The brief blossoming of nostalgia for the brand proved sufficient to reboot the company, which now manufactures new guitars according to the copyrighted credo: “It’s Time For Honest Guitars.”
Camp Blu at Pianos
Camp Blu
Post-punk out of Miami. Taciturn lyricism and shoegazey textures. Camp Blu performed as a four-piece, looking and sounding the part of a band that feels at home in a loud and noisy club. Good energy on stage and in the crowd. I saw a woman with large hoop earrings headbanging in the pit during the set, which seems like a recipe for disaster.
Pynch at Pianos
Pynch
Pynch’s Bandcamp link on Linktree sends you straight to the “Merch” page instead of their “Music” page. Which gives off “Fuck you, pay me” energy that I respect from a London outfit that probably has tattoo expenses to recoup after all the members got collectively branded with their band name during their trip to New York City. That’s Sparkle Motion-level commitment. If “indie sleaze” is a real thing, and not just a marketing concept dreamed up on Reddit, then Pynch trades in it. Add in a little New Wave for good measure.
One Pynch-er was like “Nah, I’ll do stars.”
That’s it. You survived. Or is there another day of music at The New Colossus Fest? The massive indie music festival on NYC’s Lower East Side is already booked for 2026. Hump Day News, in all likelihood, will see you there.
Photo Gallery
Constant Smiles collects the collective at Berlin.