New Colossus: Saturday
Landing at Arlene’s Grocery, Baker Falls, and Sour Mouse on March 8, 2025
Hachiku promise to try a “chopped cheese” at Sour Mouse on Saturday, March 8 2025.
The Spanish Wave crashes onto the shores of Baker Falls with Las Petunias, Mirage, Tsunamis and more.
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!”
Kestrels at Arlene’s Grocery
Kestrels
The shoegaze showcase took over Arlene’s Grocery on Saturday. There were times during New Colossus where it felt like every bill was a shoegaze showcase. Shoes, as far as the eye could gaze. Which could be a function of the subgenre’s popularity, or perhaps what counts as “shoegaze” is simply more elastic than other subgenres.
Kestrels had a bit of shoegaze to them, but their driving power pop progressions and rock n roll attack were just as important to their sound as the bank of FX pedals underfoot. The guitarist elicited a chuckle when they introduced their song “Grey and Blue.” The recorded version includes a cameo J Mascis solo. With no J in the house, he informed the room – to paraphrase a bit – that he was handling the solo, we were going to love it, and we should all applaud after he pulled it off. Which he did and we did. The trio out of Halifax dropped a new LP in February, Better Wonder.
smalltalk at Arlene’s Grocery
smalltalk
The Savannah four-piece smalltalk was getting in an early set so they could wrap up early, hit the road, and play another gig the same day in Philadelphia. That’s a haul. The trip by itself is manageable. But you’ve got to add in load-in/out times at both locations. Plus, time to eat, take a brisk constitutional, and journal? The fuzzy, buzzy band knocked out a workmanlike set, hitting all the high points while leaving a little in the tank.
Heaven at Arlene’s Grocery
Heaven
Here’s a card-carrying shoegaze band, Heaven. No doubt. What makes the local three-piece fit the bill? The guitar textures, the “big paint strokes” chord progressions, the hazy vocals. There’s an engineered simplicity to shoegaze that dovetails perfectly with the purest instincts of pop music. You’ve got to keep it simple because the effects pedals are adding so much chaos to the mix that the details will get lost if you overnuance the composition. The set included a few tracks off their forthcoming LP Dream Aloud.
Holiem at Baker Falls
Holiem
The local alt rock three-piece Holiem had plenty of friends and family come out to support. Each musician had the black ‘X’ on the back of their hand. After a gritty, grungy, medium tempo set of grind-it-out slench (read that term somewhere, I’m running with it), the owner of the club took the mic to thank the band and put in a little plug for all-ages shows. At his club, at any club. It’s often lamented in The Discourse that there are not enough all-ages shows or venues to meet the needs of under-21s and under-18s that want to hit da clurb. Maybe it’s true.
Las Petunias at Baker Falls
As night fell on Baker Falls, The Spanish Wave returned to New Colossus for another year to showcase Spanish (and Spanish-language) music talent. Cultural diplomacy. You know, the thing America did before DOGE? Also returning was the marvelous emcee, César Andión, who’s got the look and feel of a scruffy old school rock radio DJ always barking about the latest band “that they kids are gonna love!” And each year the Spanish Wave rolls through New Colossus, there are, indeed, a few bands that the kids are gonna love.
Las Petunias
The three-piece Las Petunias was a standout. The rock n roll trio out of Madrid brings that garage punk NOBRO energy, but they can also pivot to a more electropop sound with a touch of glitch. Whatever they’re playing, they’re playing it full tilt. Their Spanish Wave set was one of the highlights of the festival. Music for sprinting to the airport before the love of your life takes off on a plane to Paris and you never see them again. Their debut LP Creo que soy de porcelana dropped last December.
WATCH LAS PETUNIAS LIVE ↓
Mirage at Baker Falls
Mirage
Alt rockers Mirage were also touring through from Madrid. The previous band was going to be a hard act to follow in any event. But the set felt perfunctory and the band looked bored. It happens. Days are long on the road, and you need a near lunatic-level of charisma to get your shine on for every performance.
Tsunamis at Baker Falls
Tsunamis
If you’re going to fudge the “Spanish” concept for the Spanish Wave, Chile’s Tsunamis is the way to do it. The perfect band for a Lower East Side rock n roll gig. The four-piece rolled out a feedback-laden, high-energy set that balanced artcore and post-punk instincts. The kind of band that appreciates action painting, pelvic thrusts, and taco trucks. The kind of music that populated the local stages when the neighborhood still had a touch of danger to it. A perfect opener for Sonic Youth circa 2011.
AKAI SOLO at Sour Mouse
Sour Mouse is a booze & billiards dive on Delancey Street that feels like Pinnochio’s Pleasure Island populated by the cast of Euphoria. The bouncer at the entrance has seen a lot of dumb shit in his time. The more or less mild-mannered New Colossus crowd was probably the most tranquil presence in this factory of fun over the course of shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Apart from the foosballers, of course.
The stage was situated behind a floor-to-ceiling curtain, which extended on three sides to create a private room-within-a-room for guests that were at Sour Mouse for the music. Sort of private, at any rate. Curiosity-seekers pulled back the curtain at the corners, and had to be shooed away periodically by the venue staff.
AKAI SOLO
AKAI SOLO performed a set with a DJ, a mic, and rap lyrics that traversed the distance between abstract ruminations and everyday insights. A mid-register, medium tempo delivery that took conversational turns. Shades of Quelle Chris, shades of Pink Navel. Looks like a new LP called Infinite Victory Loop is on the way.
Hachiku at Sour Mouse
Hachiku
Australia’s Hachiku performed as a four-piece, crafting pert and punchy indie rock with hints of world beat. Guitarist and lead singer Anika Ostendorf does the heavy lifting in terms of songwriting, recording, and production.
She also handles the random crowd banter, like the enthusiastic recommendation from someone in the audience that she try a “chopped cheese” before she leaves NYC. A chopped cheese sandwich is ground beef, cheese, onions on a hero roll. Basically, less than a stone’s throw from a Philly cheesesteak.
Every town has a food or drink item to which they attach legendary esteem for purely ceremonial purposes. Talking up these items is more like idly commenting on the weather than making an actual food or drink recommendation. Ostendorf agreed to try a chopped cheese “tomorrow.”
WATCH HACHIKU LIVE ↓
Snoozer
The frontman for Snoozer squashed a female photographer in the front row of the pit. If you have one takeaway impression from seeing this band live, let that be it. The guy had about one foot and one hundred pounds on the photographer, and he backed into her like a runaway dump truck. He had been doing the “violent backward lunge” move the whole set, and exactly what you thought would happen happened. Fun dude. Snoozer is a schlubrock band with too many drink tickets.
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
Peer Pleasure shares a Guinness at Baker Falls.