Sophia Michaels
Broken Social Scene’s recent stop in New York on their tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of You Forgot it in People featured an unsuspected Hollywood twist. During “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl,” Meryl Streep and Tracey Ullman crashed the show to perform alongside the band.
Ullman was introduced by Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew during the encore and emerged on stage to a cheering audience. Meanwhile, Streep spent most of the night rather low-key, recording the show from where she was standing to the side of the stage. But once Ullman beckoned the 73-year-old actress over to add to the fun, she was welcomed with excited – if not slightly confused – applause.
Streep kept her phone out and recording even when the song called for everyone to “park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me.” And in true Broken Social Scene fashion, the stage was so crowded with musicians that no one person dominated the vocal performance — but Street and Ullman didn’t need a lead role in the band to stand out.
The celebrity cameos marked a grand finale on the You Forgot it in People anniversary tour, which wrapped Sunday night. The 18-date tour began late September with a show at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom. The band made stops in Portland, Oakland, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, and more before wrapping with back-to-back shows at New York’s Webster Hall.
“20-ish years ago we released ‘You Forgot It In People’, an album that changed our lives, and maybe yours, too,” Broken Social Scene wrote on social media when announcing the tour. “To celebrate, we’re heading out on tour to play songs from that album and many more of your favorites. Possibly some new ones, too. Hope to see you there.”
Streep and Ullman got the message.
