‘Woodstock for elder millennials’: the Backyard State soundtrack anniversary live performance | Motion pictures

It’s been twenty years because the launch of Backyard State, Zach Braff’s movie about an alienated younger actor’s wrestle to seek out that means in life. However whereas the film itself grew to become a cult traditional, maybe its largest legacy is its soundtrack, which went platinum, gained a Grammy and have become a cultural touchstone amongst a sure subset of the American inhabitants.

So it was no shock that, when Braff introduced a Twentieth-anniversary live performance celebrating the album, at which every of its dozen or so artists would carry out, tickets have been going for tons of of {dollars}. This was Woodstock for elder millennials – not less than a sure swath of us who, when the soundtrack got here out in 2004, discovered an outlet for our massive teenage emotions in bands just like the Shins, Frou Frou and Iron and Wine. All three have been among the many performers at Los Angeles’s Greek Theater on Saturday night (technically practically 21 years after the album’s launch). The live performance raised cash for the Midnight Mission, a century-old LA charity combating homelessness.

One of many movie’s most memorable scenes options Natalie Portman handing Braff a pair of headphones, telling him the music he’s about to listen to “will change your life, I swear”. On the present on Saturday, it was clear her phrases hadn’t simply utilized to Braff’s character. The Greek was filled with followers, together with a robust contingent of cool-dad varieties; there have been beanies, graying sideburns and denims whose width would make gen Z shudder. A number of individuals have been sporting trash baggage in honor of one other of the movie’s best-known scenes.

Braff, who curated the soundtrack and arranged the live performance, started the night time by lamenting Portman’s absence – she couldn’t make it from her house in Paris, he mentioned, as she joined him on stage. She was considered one of a number of shock company, who additionally included Danny DeVito, Sarah Paulson, and Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke of Scrubs, the place Braff received his begin. Taylor Swift was not there, however she contributed a signed guitar to be auctioned for the trigger.

The primary efficiency was the final monitor on the album: Winding Highway, an acoustic pop track by Bonnie Somerville. Then got here Sophie Barker with Within the Ready Line, Zero 7’s mellow contribution, and Cary Brothers with a strong rendition of his track Blue Eyes. Clips from the movie and behind-the-scenes footage performed because the stage was rearranged between artists.

The Birmingham, Alabama, different band Remy Zero reunited for the primary time in 15 years to play Truthful, from the movie’s soundtrack, in addition to Save Me, which didn’t seem within the movie. “The one particular person on this world that would get us collectively is Zach Braff,” mentioned the band’s singer, August Cinjun Tate. Thievery Company adopted with an infectious efficiency of the sitar-led Lebanese Blond.

The night wasn’t with out its technical difficulties; there have been a couple of false begins to songs, occasional random audio suggestions, and at one level the movies stopped working, so Braff got here on stage and did a bit of dance to fill time. However the minor slip-ups solely enhanced the relaxed, informal ambiance; regardless of the 6,000-seat outside venue, it felt a bit like we have been all in Braff’s front room as his favourite artists carried out, not out of a way of responsibility however for the enjoyment of it. That pleasure prolonged to the group, who gave standing ovations to nearly each musician. I’d recognized that individuals cherished the soundtrack in 2004, however I hadn’t been ready for the way that enthusiasm had endured.

Among the many night’s highlights was Colin Hay’s efficiency of the heartbreaking I Simply Don’t Suppose I’ll Ever Get Over You on a booming 12-string guitar. At 71, he performs with a selected gravitas, and his voice is as highly effective as ever. Simon and Garfunkel have been shockingly unavailable to play The Solely Dwelling Boy in New York, so the Milk Carton Children lined it, with Braff noting that its refrain, about being gone with out figuring out the place, felt applicable: “I suppose that’s what I used to be actually making an attempt to jot down about in my early 20s, this abyss that I felt in my chest.” He added: “I couldn’t see it on the time, however 20 years later I feel I can. Penning this story was undoubtedly a callout to the universe … I used to be searching for like-minded souls who know that typically it helps in case you can handle to snicker by a few of these tears.” He applauded the group that had fashioned across the movie, the tattoos and wedding ceremony proposals he’d witnessed, “the infants that have been made – you realize that you simply had intercourse to this soundtrack.”

Subsequent got here Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam together with his cowl of the Postal Service’s Such Nice Heights, adopted by one other of the night time’s excessive factors: a duet with Madison Cunningham on Nick Drake’s One in every of These Issues First, with a tease of the Sesame Avenue theme track that match oddly properly. Imogen Heap and Man Sigsworth, AKA Frou Frou, reunited for Let Go, in addition to an improvised piece based mostly on a melody offered by the viewers. However maybe essentially the most placing efficiency of the night time was one other cowl: the jazz musician Laufey’s model of Coldplay’s Don’t Panic, with simply piano and vocals. Constructing from a fragile introduction to a robust refrain, she reworked the two-minute track right into a sweeping, dynamic piece that deserves its personal launch.

In fact, the Shins have been saved for final, performing New Slang – as heard in Portman’s headphones – and Caring Is Creepy. The soundtrack helped launch the band’s profession; because the singer, James Mercer, mentioned: “It modified my life, I’ll let you know that.”

Reflecting on that line, I discovered myself unexpectedly moved. Backyard State got here out at a second when music was transitioning from bodily to digital – it was a quick interval during which songs have been more and more accessible, however there was nonetheless work concerned in monitoring them down, and a way of delight in pondering you’d discovered an artist your folks may not learn about. There was worth in obscurity, or the notion of it.

Or perhaps that’s simply how everybody feels at age 19. Both approach, the soundtrack provided many listeners that crate-digging expertise – an introduction to artists just like the Shins, and even Nick Drake, whose posthumous star was rising – and an invite to hunt out extra music that will change their lives.

It’s arduous to think about a movie character saying that line right this moment; it’s too fluffy, too idealistic, too 2004. However I’d nearly forgotten the sensation existed in any respect. On Saturday night time, for a couple of hours, it got here again.