Oldies But Goldies: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats At The Echo, Monday June 29th 2015 Review
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
I keep seeing the name Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats everywhere, on Tuesday, Outside Lands lineup was revealed and yes his name was on the list, just before Foals and Lord Huron, the band from Denver is also part of the Coachella lineup next week, part of the Lollapalooza lineup in Chicago in July! Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats are even part of Project Pabst festival in Portland in August – and their name come just after Duran Duran and Ice Cube. They also had a late-night television debut on the tonight show with Jimmy Fallon last year… This band made it big for sure! And I still can’t believe I saw them during one of these free Monday residencies at the Echo, almost a year ago, on July 1st 2015, just before they blow up!
It is always amazing to see how fast a band can make it big because this is really the case for Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. That night, the crowd was rather thin, it was a Monday night after all, and most people visibly didn’t know who they were, I had never heard about them either, and everyone was sold at the first song. At that time, it was not too difficult to imagine their future success, their set was rather short but they played explosive high-energy numbers with horns and charisma to sell and they blew away the public, me included… and I saw 5 bands that same night!
This is what I wrote almost a year ago:
I often complain that bands sound too much alike, but this was certainly not the case during this Monday residency at the Echo. I got to see five bands, as the show stretched into the late hours, and the bands did offer a very eclectic range. There was a little bit of something for everyone I guess, but you certainly had to come early for Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. They were a great surprise with a formidable energy and a lot of soul. I am not using the term soul lightly, despite the cowboy hat on the head of one of the guitarists, they undoubtedly had an old-school rhythm & blues sound, and one of their songs even came with a real Sam & Dave vibe. The sax, the horns and the wobbling Hammond were part of their audacious and lively R&B, with an explosive sound and a powerhouse that may have channeled some Springsteen or Joe Cocker gig. It was some happy and empowering music, cheered by the crowd, and this was just a regular Monday night at the Echo. Rateliff had an intense charisma, step-walking-dancing, clapping, yelling with his big fat voice, performing like a born-frontman at the head of a 5-piece band. Their last song, which may have been entitled ‘S.O.B.’, had this chain-gang-New-Orleans-Mardi-Gras big sound with Acapella and clapping parts, totally great and received by the crowd with big applause. They are from Denver, Colorado, but there was something very southern, almost gospelic in their music and they have an upcoming album out August 21st.
By the way, the song is really called S.O.B. and you can watch the very Cash-at-Folsom-inspired video below.
