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Concerts

New York's New Colossus Festival Adds Canadian Acts OBGMs, Casper Skulls to 2025 Lineup

They join previously announced artists like Montreal's Bibi Club and Toronto's Skye Wallace at the music discovery festival which hosts 100+ emerging artists in downtown Manhattan every year, with many stopping in the city on their way to SXSW.

The OBGMs

The OBGMs

Cassandra Popescu

Canadian artists will be heading south come March 2025 to play New York City's New Colossus Festival.

Just announced acts include Toronto rockers The OBGMs, indie rock group Casper Skulls, folk singer Braden Lam, and Montreal jangle pop group Prism Shores. They join a host of previously announced Canadian acts for the 2025 edition, like Polaris long-listers Bibi Club, rising Montreal grunge group Knitting, Toronto singer-songwriter Skye Wallace, and off-kilter pop act Cootie Catcher — who just opened for Alvvays in Toronto.


Launched in 2019, New Colossus has built a reputation as a vibrant music discovery festival in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Its model is focused exclusively on emerging artists — the festival has no headliners — and it operates out of independent venues packed close together, giving the festival a truly buzzy feel for attendees.

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Part of the impetus behind the festival was to create a stopover for artists on their way down to SXSW in Austin. (OBGMs and Knitting are both heading down to Texas after their Manhattan gigs.) Thanks in part to its proximity to the Canadian border, though, the festival has become a key play for Canadian acts in its own right. For many, it's their first American gig, and entry point into an important market.

The festival is also growing its industry component: partnerships this year include festivals like M for Montreal, Focus Wales, and Iceland Airwaves, as well as booking agency Anniversary Group, Born Losers Records, and promotion company Planetary Group.

Check out the lineup-to-date below. The New Colossus Festival takes place March 4-9, 2025. Festival badges are on sale here.

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Carly Rae Jepsen
Meredith Jenks

Carly Rae Jepsen

Pop

604 Records Co-Founder Jonathan Simkin Says Carly Rae Jepsen Recorded a Whole Unreleased Album Around 'Call Me Maybe'

The British Columbia-native was signed to Interscope Records, but was reportedly tasked to make a brand new record with all new producers.

An unreleased Carly Rae Jepsen project exists out in the music ether, according to Jonathan Simkin.

In a recent podcast episode of I Hate Simkin, the 604 Records co-founder reveals that prior to the No. 1 success of Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” an entire project had been made — but it didn’t make it to the masses.

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