The Ally Coalition is an organization that seeks to raise awareness of the systemic inequalities facing the LGBTQ population and provides critical support for grassroots non-profit organizations bettering the lives of LGBTQ youth. For the past ten years, The Ally Coalition has hosted an annual talent show—a benefit that showcases both comedy and music performances. In recent years, the lineup for the event has been completely unannounced; the only guaranteed guests would be Jack Antonoff’s band, Bleachers. The special surprise guests over the years have included the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Clairo, Jason Isbell, and Trey Anastasio. This year’s iteration of the talent show returned to the NYU Skirball Center for a third straight year.
At last year’s show, Red Hearse, a Jack Antonoff side project, reunited for their first performance since 2019. This year, another group from Antonoff’s past, Steel Train, reunited to kick off the evening’s festivities and performed “Kill Monsters in the Rain” and “Bullet.”
More musicians would continue to grace the stage, including talent show returnees Andrew Dost and Claud as well as newcomers to the talent show stage, Laundry Day. For Claud’s second song, “Soft Spot,” they were joined by Jack and Rachel’s father, Rick Antonoff, on guitar.
The evening would continue with comedy sets from Chris Laker, Veronika Slowikowska, and Mike Birbiglia.
In one of the evening’s most unexpected guest performances, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates would perform two songs on piano accompanied by Liam Benzvi, in stark contrast to the style of music we’re accustomed to from Turnstile.
Remi Wolf took the stage to cover “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus as well as perform her own song, “Soup.” Trey Anastasio of Phish joined Bleachers on guitar to accompany Remi Wolf, and then he followed Wolf’s two song set with a cover of Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine.”
The next guest, Rachel Zegler, made it downtown to the Skirball Center after having just finished a performance of Romeo + Juliet on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre, much to Jack Antonoff’s surprise. Zegler would sing “Man of the House,” a song co-written by Antonoff for the aforementioned Broadway production.
The biggest crowd reaction of the evening came when Jack Antonoff introduced the final surprise guest of the evening, Sabrina Carpenter. Backed by Bleachers, Carpenter performed the Antonoff-produced songs “Slim Pickins” and “Please, Please, Please” off of her 2024 release Short n’ Sweet. Carpenter quipped to the crowd that the show would be her last “singing day” of the year.
Throughout the evening, Bleachers would take the stage to perform their own songs, including old favorites like “Rollercoaster,” newer material like “Modern Girl,” and the debut of a new Irish folk-inspired song. Although Bleachers are one of the few constants at the annual Ally Coalition talent show, their presence this year felt different; it felt like a victory lap. The year 2024 was huge for the band, which saw them release Bleachers, their fourth studio album, and headline a sold out show at Madison Square Garden. For the final song of the evening, Bleachers performed “Merry Christmas Please Don’t Call,” a song that debuted at the talent show two years ago and had only just recently received a proper release as a single.
For a full photo gallery of the 10th Annual Ally Coalition Talent Show, continue below.
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