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Review: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Of course anyone familiar with the Bristol music scene knows that the Fleece has an enviable reputation for booking bands that go on to great success, and they may well have picked another with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. The show sold out, the band has chalked up a Later… performance and they’ve already been booked in to the larger O2 Academy for the next European tour. All this and only one LP released.
Mind you, a bit of digging reveals that Rateliff himself is something of a veteran, having played with other combos and released several solo recordings. It turns out that whilst recording & performing both solo and with a small band, Rateliff has always wanted to blast out gutbucket soul, and with this first LP he’s achieved his mission in the studio – but what about on stage?
The Night Sweats are a superbly drilled band who have the chops to deliver the material live. In fact they don’t just deliver it – they burn down the stage with it.
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Their brand of soul is categorically based in the Southern tradition – choppy guitar riffs and licks, wicked organ and a tight rhythm section – the whole lot driven along with stabbing horns in the best Muscle Shoals fashion.
Oh, and all of the band pitch in with some exquisite harmony vocals, like a gospel choir singing doo-wop on the wrong side of the tracks. It’s no surprise that the current LP is on the Stax as there’s a massive Stax vibe to the show: the band testifying like it’s 1967.
Rateliff himself has written a batch of killer tunes that were delivered with an irresistible groove and overlaid with his own fine guitar playing. His voice isn’t what you’d call a classic Soul voice, it’s gritty and rocks too, reminiscent of Van Morrison rather than Otis or Wilson, and he has a laid back approach that belies the passion in his delivery.
The set featured a whole batch from the LP, together with one new cut – but Rateliff assured us that a second LP was soon to come, and if the material is as good as the first not only will the spring date (hopefully) see a longer set, but it’s gonna scorch.
The set closed with arguably the catchiest tune S.O.B., with the band finally leaving the stage one-by-one as the crowd sang back the irresistibly catchy chorus. That singing continued until the band returned to the stage and S.O.B. morphed into a thumping cover of the band’s The Shape I’m In before returning to a triumphant final chorus of their own tune.
All over too soon, but it’s a fair bet that everyone present will be back out in the spring, and if you weren’t at the Fleece you’d be a mug not to join us then.
For more information, visit www.nathanielrateliff.com.
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