Over the years the Ally Coalition Talent Show, helmed by uber-producer Jack Antonoff, has featured one-off performances by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Regina Spektor , often premiering new material. After pandemic-induced a year online and another year away, the show returned as an in-person event on Monday night, with performances by Phoebe Bridgers, the 1975’s Matty Healy, Weyes Blood, Lucy Dacus, Antonoff’s band Bleachers and even a surprise appearance from Phish’s Trey Anastasio.
The two-and-a-half-hour-long event, which was held at Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York, raises funds to support LGBTQ+ youth homeless shelters across the U.S. As always, it was co-hosted by the organization’s founding members Antonoff and his sister Rachel. The musical sets were interspersed with comedy, this year from Jacqueline Novak, Mike Birbiglia, Sam Morril and Chris Laker.
The evening kicked off with brief sets from Talent Show vet and Antonoff’s former bandmate in Fun., Andrew Dost, followed by Claud, an artist on Bridgers’ Saddest Factory label, who played their queer anthem “Wish You Were Gay.”
Weyes Blood was up next, playing a song not from her critically feted latest album “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow” but instead “Picture Me Better” from its predecessor, and capping with an Antonoff-accompanied rendition of “O Holy Night.” Antonoff debuted a new holiday song, “It’s Christmas, Please Don’t Call,” followed by Healy, on break from the 1975’s long North American tour, playing a string of his band’s songs backed by Antonoff and a team of Bleachers.
While most of the Ally performers usually come from Antonoff’s extended musical cohort, the audience was thrown a curve when Phish frontman Trey Anastasio joined him for a cover of the National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” followed by a rapturous response when Bridgers took the stage joined by her Boygenius bandmate cohort Dacus as well as Saddest Factory artist Christian Lee Hutson for “I Know the End.”
The inevitably grand finale with everyone taking part in a performance of “These Days” — written by Jackson Browne but first released on Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico’s 1967 debut album “Chelsea Girl” —with Weyes Blood, Dacus and Bridgers trading off verses and backed by Healy, Antonoff, Anastasio and various Bleachers.
Donations to The Ally Coalition can be made via their website –https://theallycoalition.org
