It sounded like 2004, back on the plane with Andrew Largeman.
The sun had already gone down over Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on Saturday night for the sold-out Garden State 20th Anniversary Concert, when the curtains opened and Zach Braff stood on stage underneath a spotlight as the Prayer to Ganesh played over the speaker.
The crowd applauded and Braff made his way over to a covered prop nearby and tore the sheet off to reveal the iconic green motorcycle his character rode in the early-Aughts cult classic – sidecar included.
“I cannot believe we managed to pull this off,” Braff told the Greek, “and you guys are in for a really, really, really special night.”
The Garden State star, writer, and director said it was his “dream” to have his co-star, Natalie Portman, who plays his love interest Sam, at the show, making it sound like she couldn’t make it because she lives in Paris.
“Well, dreams come true,” Portman said, walking out onto the stage, “… and sidecars are for bitches” — a nod to one of her character’s most quotable lines about the bike behind them. The two hugged and Braff thanked Portman for playing Sam nearly two decades ago in the film.
“You’d think I was going to miss this special night? No way,” Portman replied. “These incredible artists have never played together on the same stage – and who knows if it’ll happen again.”
For nearly two-and-a-half hours on Saturday night, fans of Braff’s 2004 indie hit celebrated its Grammy-winning, platinum-selling soundtrack with behind-the-scenes interviews from the movie, clips from some of the most quotable scenes, and, of course, live performances from artists featured on the soundtrack.
Carlos Gonzalez/The1point8 for Rolling Stone
The one-night-only benefit concert, which will also stream April 6 on Veeps, helped raise money for the Los Angeles-based Midnight Mission, a homeless services and shelter nonprofit Braff started to work with during the pandemic. (The concert even ended with confetti raining from the sky and a group performance of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” because Midnight Missions was, as Braff put it, the rock legend’s “favorite charity.”)
“We got really good at this assembly line, and we made between 100 and 200 lunches every Saturday,” Braff recently told Rolling Stone in an interview. “It made us feel like we were doing something at a time when we all felt like there was nothing we could do.”
After a screen intro from Garden State co-star Jean Smart, who played Peter Sarsgaard’s mom Carol in the movie, singer-songwriter Bonnie Somerville kicked off the first performance of the show with “Winding Road,” the final track that appears on the soundtrack.
Danny DeVito, whose company Jersey Films produced the movie, hopped on the stage to welcome the next act, Sophie Barker from Zero 7, who performed “In the Waiting Line,” with a still from the slow-motion party scene projected behind them, where Braff’s Largeman gets high with his old friends and plays Spin the Bottle. “I float on this wonderful song,” DeVito said during his introduction.
‘Sidecars are for bitches.’
Natalie Portman
Although the show featured mostly members from the cast up to this point, the night also saw special guests and presenters from Braff’s other projects, including Scrubs, the TV comedy series Braff starred in while he was writing the screenplay for Garden State. His co-stars, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke, joined him on stage to welcome Braff’s “old friend,” songwriter Cary Brothers, who sang “Blue Eyes.”
Carlos Gonzalez/The1point8 for Rolling Stone
The night of indie nostalgia continued with a set from what Braff called “one of my favorite bands,” Remy Zero. The band reunited for the first time in 15 years to play their Garden State cut “Fair,” as a fireplace appeared on the screen behind the group, a visual nod to a pivotal scene in which Portman tap-dances in front of Braff.
Later in the night, Braff took it back to one of Garden State‘s most iconic shots, standing in front of a wall wearing the same pattern on his shirt as the wallpaper behind him. The wall – and Braff – moved to the side to reveal one of the actor-director’s “true favorites,” Colin Hay. Backed by an image of Sam and Andrew after they just buried Sam’s pet hamster Jelly, Hay launched into the gorgeous acoustic number “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You,” with rows of lightbulbs moving in unison above, followed by his own crowd-pleaser “Down Under.”
While Paul Simon didn’t appear at the anniversary concert, Braff and company enlisted the help of the Milk Carton Kids for one of the soundtrack’s most memorable moments with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York.” The song comes at a special time in the film where Largeman, Sam, and Sarsgaard’s character Mark scream into the “infinite abyss,” a quarry in Newark, as the rain pours down.
Sam Beam, best known as Iron & Wine, later treated the crowd to one of the most intimate, stunning highlights of the night. With a guitar in his hand and sitting on a stool, he started to play the first few notes of his Postal Service cover, “Such Great Heights,” the moving acoustic cut that plays in an emotional scene near the end of the film. Beam followed it up with his track “Naked As We Came,” before Madison Cunningham traded verses with him for a rendition of Nick Drake’s “One of These Things First.”
Cunningham wasn’t the only surprise guest of the night. Only a few tracks were left from the LP, as Laufey surprised the crowd with the soundtrack’s opener, Coldplay’s Parachutes classic “Don’t Panic.” “I’m so thankful to get to be a part of this concert and embody Coldplay tonight,” Laufey said, sitting behind a grand piano. “I love this song, I love this movie, so I hope you enjoy.”
Next the set list turned to the final song of the movie as Sarah Paulson introduced Frou Frou to the stage. When Imogen Heap looped her vocals and launched into a hypnotic rendition of “Let Go,” the iconic last shot from the movie appeared on the screen of Braff and Portman’s characters embracing in an airport terminal in the background. The duo followed it up by improvising a track that solicited melodies from the crowd merged with Heap’s own vocals – a “completely original moment in human history,” as Sam might say.
Around 10:30, Portman reappeared to present one of the final sets of the night. Of course, there was still one band and their life-changing songs on the bill.
“Now, perhaps no other band gained more momentum and notoriety from the success of the Garden State soundtrack than a little group from Albuquerque, New Mexico, called the Shins.”
Portman told the crowd how Braff felt it was “a very tricky spot to place a song because when Sam puts her headphones on Andrew, it had to be one that everyone would love. It couldn’t just be good, it had to be life-changing. So 20 years later, I say to you once again, you gotta hear this song, it’ll change your life.”
‘So 20 years later, I say to you once again, you gotta hear this song, it’ll change your life.’
Natalie Portman
James Mercer and the band started in with the “New Slang,” with the crowd singing until the end. The band got the audience up on their feet and moving with their second song, “Caring Is Creepy.”
“Thank you, Zach, thank you very, very much,” Mercer said, as fans at the Greek cheered on. “Changed my life, I’ll tell you that. Thank you, all, have a good night.”
Carlos Gonzalez/The1point8 for Rolling Stone
Garden State 20th Anniversary Concert Set List
“Winding Road” – Bonnie Somerville
“In the Waiting Line” – Sophie Barker from Zero 7
“Blue Eyes – Cary Brothers
“Fair” – Remy Zero
“Save Me” – Remy Zero
“Lebanese Blonde” – Thievery Corporation
“I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” – Colin Hay
“Down Under” – Colin Hay
“The Only Living Boy in New York” – The Milk Carton Kids
“Such Great Heights” – Iron & Wine
“Naked As We Came” – Iron & Wine
“One of These Things First” – Madison Cunningham and Iron & Wine
“Don’t Panic” – Laufey
“Let Go” – Imogen Heap and Frou From
“New Song Creation” – Imogen Heap and Frou Frou
“New Slang” – The Shins
“Caring Is Creepy” – The Shins
“Free Fallin’” – Ensemble
