Sabrina Carpenter, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, Trey Anastasio & more pl

Jack and Rachel Antonoff‘s LGBTQ equality nonprofit, the Ally Coalition, held its tenth annual Talent Show benefit at NYU Skirball’s Center on Tuesday night (12/17). It’s always one of the highlights of the holiday season and the whole year, both on the strength of its lineup and for the good cause it’s helping to support, and like the past couple of years, the lineup (except for Jack’s band Bleachers) wasn’t announced at all beforehand; it was full of returning guests from past years as well as some big surprises. As for the former, Fun.‘s Andrew Dost performed as he usually does, and Claud returned for the second year in a row, playing a new song, “You Sure Know How to Make Me Feel Like It,” with their guitarist Hank. Claud then joined Jack and Rachel’s father Rick Antonoff for a rendition of “Soft Spot,” which is also becoming an annual tradition (they did that one last year as well).

Trey Anastasio, who has Phish‘s annual New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden coming up later this month, also returned for the first time since 2022, joining Bleachers on “Me Before You” and a cover of Mitski’s “My Love is Mine All Mine.” Also joining Bleachers and Trey was Remi Wolf — they all teamed up to cover Rufus’ “Tell Me Something Good,” and Remi and Bleachers did Remi’s song “Soup.”

One of the night’s big surprises was Turnstile‘s Brendan Yates, who was joined by Liam Benzvi for two songs on piano: Turnstile’s “Underwater Boi,” and Liam’s song “Hiccup.” It was a particularly unusual performance from Yates, who is usually leaping around the stage fronting Turnstile, and it was a real treat to witness.

The biggest surprise of the night, though, was the appearance of Sabrina Carpenter, who had Bleachers join her on a pair of her Short n’ Sweet songs, “Slim Pickins” and “Please Please Please.” The whole theater erupted in excitment when Sabrina took the stage, with one person audibly exclaiming, “she’s real!?,” and her “since the lord forgot my gay awakening” line in “Slim Pickins” was received with particular enthusiasm.

Jack and Bleachers also performed a bunch of favorites throughout the night, including “Modern Girl,” “Chinatown,” and “I Wanna Get Better,” ending the night with “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call,” the holiday track they officially released last month after playing it at the last couple of Talent Shows.

Tuesday night also included a rare reunion set from Jack’s old band Steel Train; performances from Laundry Day and Rachel Zegler (Maria in the Broadway production and Spielberg’s 2021 big screen remake of West Side Story); comedy from Mike Birbiglia, Chris Laker, and Veronika Slowikowska; and actor Richard Kind, who made an appearance at the beginning of the show. You can see pictures below, along with attendee-taken video.

The Ally Coalition also showed a few videos throughout the night going over highlights of the non-profit’s year, which was their biggest yet, and included tours with Joy Oladokun, Brittany Howard, Michael Kiwanuka, Hinds, Bleachers, and Lizzy McAlpine. They also just hosted their second annual Day of Services on Saturday (12/16), where they collaborated with various local organizations and brands to provide essential services to unhoused LGBTQ youth. You can learn more about their work here.