All 📸 by Lucy Evans – lfephoto
I must make a disclaimer before delving into this article about my night with Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats: I had never knowingly known of these artists before now. All I had known, for that matter, was that I was going to a Soul and Blues gig at the Albert Hall to do an article for Acid Rain. It seemed fitting because I love Soul. But when I think of Soul, I mean question-your-feminine-urges through Amy Winehouse and Lauren Hill kinda soul, or take-your-clothes-off to D’Angelo kinda neo-soul.
I hadn’t heard of these guys before, so before the gig I had to answer the question that was haunting me: Who is Nathaniel and why does he have night sweats? I took to Google and Google brought me to a page where I saw a group of elder millennial men looking suspiciously down a lens, wearing a whole lot of denim, a couple of cowboy hats and a sprinkling of suede… “wait, is this a Country gig?” I ask myself. I played the first teaser of a song I’d never heard for the first time called Heartless. The strum of the guitar and the train beat of the drums kicks in to back a ridiculously Southern American accent singing:
“Remember the flames in the grass how they dance in a line?
As the fire swept across the prairie it was on to burn our eyes”.
It was all I needed to hear, to know I was headed to my first Country gig.
I’m not someone who stays up to date with the what’s what and who’s who in popular culture, I have friends who do that for me and explain that I shouldn’t be offended if someone calls me, or anything I’m wearing “cunty”. So considering this, I’ve heard whispers in the wind that Country is in with the Gen Z crowd, but I’m sure we all have an image in our heads of the typical crowd that Country music draws in… So, my next question was “What kind of crowd am I gunna be surrounded by?”.
Fast forward to me stepping foot into Albert Hall in my ditsy floral dress and my boyfriend donning his woollen white shirt and denim jacket (wild man, it was 25 degrees outside, let alone in Albert Hall). We grab a drink and get a spot at the back just in time for Nathaniel to power strut across the stage, grab his tambourine and get straight into the first song. The click of the drum sticks count them in 4.3.2.1. No nonsense. No fucking around. We’re stomping our feet in the beat to the sound of their first song “Suffer me”. As Nathaniel sing/shouts in an old-school rock’n’roll Southern drawl “I was a drOUght, and you were the SEa”. It’s a song which draws its attitude from Elvis Presley's right knee whilst sticking it to straight up Blues. The eight piece band falls into their love affair with their instruments and their energy gets the crowd jolting their heads and shoulders to the hard beat, as Nathaniel shouts: “Is there any LOVE for ME!?”. It’s a hard yes. The trio of horns blare whilst they dance in unison at the back, already a guitar solo takes flight. Then BAM.
The drums kick in at 136 bpm to their next song “Intro”, another foot stomper, hand-tapper beat. Nathaniel is already sweating, working his audience up with an “OWH” and an “aah ha, he-ey”, not having to wait for the crowd to chime back “aah ha, he-ey”. We’re already dancing and, with the luck of the lyrics being easy to remember, singing along like we’re on stage:
“Tell me that you want ME, tell me that you need ME, tell me that you love ME”
We were punching our fists in the air like a full stop.
I stood corrected. This was NOT a Country gig. Nathaniel metaphorically screamed across the hall at me, this was an old school Rock ‘N’ Roll, Blues and Soul gig baby! I mean Soul in a hear-my-guttural-cry-as-my-heart-screams-to-you kinda Gospel Soul. Arguably the best kind. Now I know why he has the Night Sweats, I’m sweating, we’re all sweating… And it is the night.
The band's sound is reminiscent of a time you wish you grew up in, of a party you knew you missed, but you don’t quite know when it was. If I had to describe the sound and attitude of the first part of the show to you, I’d use the song Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones. The band has enough heart to compare to Merry Clayton's vocals, as the organist played an indescribably legendary organ solo pinned against the backdrop of Albert Hall’s grand Organ (for those of you who don’t know, The Albert Hall is a beautiful restored church originally built in 1910). Do I need to explain to you how beautiful it is to feel the screechy heart of Bluesy/Gospel vocals and an enigmatic Organ solo featuring a trio of horns in a restored church? I didn’t think so.
Nathaniel has the stage presence of any first rate rockstar, throwing his tambourine into the audience on the last note of the song in an “I'm done with that” fashion. His voice has an echoing country/folk nature to it. I’m unsure if he just makes things sound more Country because of his Southern American accent. But “I need never get old” had more of a Country Esque swing to it, especially as the crowd started to sing and clap along. At this point, I might add, I wrote in the notes on my phone that he had the crowd by the bollocks. And I can’t think of any way of putting it better than that, so there you go. And considering the crowd was largely made up of men you’d find down the local, beer bellies in tow, I’d say well done Nathaniel. As that song came to an end he admitted “Last time we were here we took our clothes off in the last song” and never had the guy standing next to me ever wanted another man to take his clothes off so much before.
The tempo of the gig began to mellow down a bit when Nathaniel took to a second piano, next to the guy on keys and began to play “David and Goliath” off their new album South of Here. A song which I had sworn I’d heard before, yet knowing I’d never heard of them until now. So much so I thought it was a cover. Do you ever get that? I continued to have that feeling after a couple of their songs, another being “S.O.B”. Perhaps unsurprising though, as Nathaniel told the audience they’re celebrating their 10 year anniversary. Having googled them again after the gig, I realised they’ve been on tour supporting The Rolling Stones (that makes sense), been asked by Bob Dylan himself to support on two of his tours and performed on SNL and NPR’s Tiny Desk. I feel silly, this is a wildly successful band of which I recognise songs, of a genre I just don’t know enough about. Which, by the way, google suggested was Cowpunk? Excuse me? We’ll stick with original R’n’B.
In the latter part of the show the room became quiet, a number of band members left the stage and a spotlight emerged on Nathaniel with his guitar, an angel in suede. Suddenly, just a man and his guitar on stage, he opened up to the crowd about his hardships with alcoholism and friends tragically passing away, and admitted his “inability to communicate what I need”. But god, does he know how to sing it. His voice echoes through the church to “And It’s Still Alright” followed by “Face Down In The Moment”. And as he stands and wails “AND I’LL WAIT” - silence, as we were hanging on the end of his breath.
The gig continued with a cover of one of my personal heroes Bruce Springsteens (maybe we have more in common than I thought) "Dancing In the Dark", and their debut hit which brought them to fame “S.O.B.”, and it ended as one of the best surprise gigs I’ve been to.
And unfortunately for the guy next to me… he did not take his clothes off.
So that, in a nutshell, is Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats at Albert Hall - please go and listen to their music (below) and open up a whole new world. Make sure to also check out Albert Halls calendar, below, as they always have insanely great artists playing.
As always, see you at the front!
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Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
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