In New York, fans of indie music wove in and out of clubs filled with groups from around the globe. A Japanese rock band opened for a German post-punk trio followed by an alternative group from New Zealand.
Advertisement
And that was just day one at the New Colossus Festival, held last week.
The six-day event takes its name from the poem cast on the Statue of Liberty, viewed as a welcome message for new immigrants: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses ….”
Now in its sixth year, 196 artists were scheduled to perform, more than half from outside the United States. But New Colossus may be an exception, not the rule, for international artists hoping to perform in the US. In the past few years, the process has grown much more arduous and expensive.
“It’s already at the maximum level of difficulty that we can rationalise,” said Mischa Dempsey, frontman for the Montreal band Knitting, who performed at New Colossus and described the process as “labour intensive”.
Advertisement
“I can’t even think about it getting worse.”