Bleachers, Sabrina Carpenter, Remi Wolf and more served as surprise performers at the 10th annual Ally Coalition Talent Show in New York last night (Thursday December 17). Check out photos and footage below.
Jack Antonoff hosted the 10th edition of the intimate star-studded fundraising gig for The Ally Coalition, the non-profit organisation he created with his sister Rachel, which supports at-risk LGBTQ+ youth, at NYU’s Skirball Center in NYC.
To kick off the night, Antonoff was joined by his previous band Steel Train and treated the crowd to renditions of their songs ‘Kill Monsters In The Rain ‘ and ‘Bullet’. From there, Andrew Dost – who is also a founding member of The Ally Coalition and was Antonoff’s bandmate while in the group Fun – took over to perform two songs titled ‘Cucumber’ and ‘Universal Themes’ which are set to appear in his band Metal Bubble Trio’s forthcoming album which is set for release next year.
Claud made their third consecutive Ally Coalition Talent Show appearance and shared how they met Dost when they were a teenager studying at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where the musician served as her teacher. “The first thing I asked him was if he could introduce me to Jack Antonoff,” they shared before joking: “I hope I meet Jack Antonoff one day.”
They then performed their new song ‘You Sure Know How To Make Me’ with the help of their friend Hank Heaven. From there, Rick Antonoff – Jack’s Father – came out and joined the musicians on stage for a duet of their 2020 song ‘Soft Spot’.
Here’s Brendan Yates of @TURNSTILEHC doing ‘Underwater Boi’ on piano with @liam_benzvi at the @allycoalition talent show pic.twitter.com/hifrYBUQky
— NME (@NME) December 18, 2024
.@remiwolf with a storming rendition of ‘Tell Me Something Good’ with @bleachersmusic and @treyanastasio pic.twitter.com/xXPKZlilwX
— NME (@NME) December 18, 2024
NYC natives Laundry Day also took to the stage to perform a new song. “I feel like the young nephew at a cool adult Christmas party,” drummer and keyboardist Sawyer Nunez shared.
Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates was next up and brought Brooklyn singer and composer Liam Benzvi to join him in a stripped-down rendition of the band’s track ‘Underwater Boi’ from their 2021 LP ‘Glow On’.
Next to take the stage were Bleachers, who treated fans to their songs ‘Goodmorning’ followed by ’91’. To bring back the energy in the room, they then performed an acoustic rendition of ‘Modern Girl’ before welcoming Wolf and Phish‘s Trey Anastasio for a soulful acoustic cover of Rufus and Chaka Khan‘s ‘Tell Me Something Good’. From there, the band and Wolf then took on the song ‘Soup’ from her 2024 album ‘Big Ideas‘.
After Wolf’s departure from the stage, Anastasio and Bleachers went on to cover Mitski‘s “beautiful” song ‘My Love Is Mine All Mine’ with the legendary guitarist taking over vocal duties along with playing a bright and soothing guitar solo in the middle of the track.
Bleachers then played ‘Me Before You’ with Anastasio on lead guitar. The group followed that with a soft rendition of ‘Chinatown’ before bringing out Rachel Zegler to perform ‘Man Of The House’ – a song written by Antonoff and Ryan Beaty for the new Broadway revival of Romeo + Juliet which sees Zegler in the lead role alongside Kit Connor.
From there, Antonoff and co performed a folksy rendition of ‘I Wanna Get Better’ with the musician taking on a Bob Dylan-esque vocal sound. “Eat your heart out Timotheé Chalamet,” Antonoff told the crowd after finishing the song, referring to the actor’s latest role as the legendary folk icon in the film A Complete Unknown.
.@rachelzegler also came out to sing ‘Man Of The House’ with @bleachersmusic at the annual @allycoalition talent show pic.twitter.com/BQ8CszmTzL
— NME (@NME) December 18, 2024
After a bit of confusion about which side the next surprise guest would come out from, Antonoff introduced “The one and only Sabrina Carpenter,” as she arrived on stage. “She’s real,” yelled one attended with Carpenter responding: “Did you just say ‘she’s real?’ I sure hope I fucking am.”
She continued: “Thank you so much Jack for having me. I’ve been listening to everything you guys have been listening to and I am just so lucky to be here. I wanna sing this song that I wrote with Sir Jack and it is sort of about the saying ‘There’s plenty of fish in the sea’ and how that is a big fat lie. No, it’s not so pessimistic but this song sure is, it’s called ‘Slim Pickins’”
She followed with a festive rendition of her Grammy-nominated song ‘Please, Please, Please’. To round out the night, Antonoff shared his opinion that “Christmas songs are not happy,” and added that “Some Christmas songs pretend to be happy but at their best, they are hopeful,” before closing out the jam-packed night with Bleachers’ heartbreaking yet festive track ‘Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call‘.
2024 saw The Ally Coalition’s most successful year with roughly $450,000 raised to help at-risk LGBTQ+ youth. You can visit here to shop their merch which was designed in-house by Rachel Antonoff with all proceeds going to support LGBTQ Youth, and here to donate to the cause.
