Clairo, Bleachers, St. Vincent, Jason Isbell and more have performed at the 9th annual Ally Coalition Talent Show.
- READ MORE: Bleachers: “This album is about wanting to hold joy, and not understanding why you can’t”
On December 19, Jack Antonoff hosted his ninth star-studded fundraising concert for the non-profit organisation he started with his sister Rachel, The Ally Coalition, which supports at-risk LGBTQ+ youth. Surprise performers included Clairo, St. Vincent, Jason Isbell, Bartees Strange, and more.
Antonoff opened the show with a piano-led version of Bleachers’ ‘Goodmorning’, before joining his band for an unreleased holiday song, ‘Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call’. Later in the show, Claud appeared for her second Ally Coalition Talent Show in a row, performing ‘Soft Spot’ from her 2021 sophomore album ‘Super Monster’ with Antonoff’s father on guitar, and covering Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ cut, ‘Betty’.
Watch Claud perform ‘Soft Spot’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘Betty’ below:
Bartees Strange performed ‘Boomer’ from his 2020 debut album ‘Live Forever’, before being joined by his mother Donna, who provided opera vocals to a cover of George Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’, from his 1935 opera ‘Porgy And Bess’. Jason Isbell also covered John Prine’s ‘Hello In There’, before Clairo took the stage for a cover of Vashti Bunyan’s ‘Winter Is Blue’, and an acoustic rendition of her ‘Sling’ highlight, ‘Blouse’, alongside Antonoff and Bartees Strange.
Watch the performances below:
Finally, St. Vincent closed the night with a headlining performance consisting of her ‘Masseduction’ highlight ‘New York’, and ‘Daddy’s Home’ cut ‘…At The Holiday Party’, both of which she co-wrote with Antonoff.
Other performances that night include more songs from Bleachers, including their September single ‘Modern Girl’ and ‘I Wanna Get Better’, and the return of Red Hearse, Antonoff’s side project with producer Sounwave and singer Sam Dew, who performed ‘Everybody Wants You’ and ‘Honey’ seated around a table. In addition, the talent show included stand-up comedy sets from Jacqueline Novak and Chris Laker.
Watch the above musical performances below:
The Ally Coalition Talent Show caps off a busy year for Antonoff, who has spent time working on Taylor Swift’s re-release of her 2014 breakout album ‘1989’, and rebooting Bleachers for a new album cycle, which has so far produced two singles, ‘Modern Girl’ and ‘Alma Mater’. The powerhouse producer also recently announced that Bleachers was now managed by Jamie Oborne – who also manages The 1975 – and were now signed to his label, Dirty Hit.
In a recent interview, he reflected on his production work on ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’, likening it to “finding an old diary”. Speaking about ‘Out Of The Woods’, he stated: “That younger version of me that was just piling shit on, I mean, ‘Out Of The Woods’ is just like kitchen sink. That’s the glory of it: As someone who didn’t really have any success as a producer, there was no reason for me to pile all that shit on other than it was just giving me a lot of joy.”