Two years ago I saw Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats at Kaufleuten and I just loved his set so when they announced that they are coming back I knew I had to go. I was very much looking forward to this gig and to listen to some new songs of his brand new album Tearing at the Seams released March, 9th.
We had to wait a long time for the support to come on. But finally at 8.10 a band called Slim Cessna’s Auto Club took the stage. And for the first time ever I don’t know what to tell you guys. I think they were completely nuts! I mean they were nice. They greeted us in the front row by handshake but the weirdness continued.. They stepped into the crowd and were just dancing weirdly and the songs… It was kinda country but also almost goth, rock and just very disturbing. But I think that’s what they want. They are on a European at the end of this year so if you’re into dark goth country music check them out!
At 9.30 Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats finally took the stage with a whiskey in his hand and his first word to us was:
Proscht!
I was kinda mad at them for letting us wait but that intro just made me laugh and I couldn’t stay mad anymore. In “Shoe Boot” Nathaniel Rateliff showed off his dancing qualities or should I say sliding qualities ๐ It was a brilliant start and with “Grรผezi, I’m Nathaniel Rateliff and we are the Night Sweats” it was enough said. “Be there” from the new record was next before he played “Look it here” of his self-titled older record. The front row was already dancing and clapping along.
“I did it” came before “Howling at Nothing” which definitely got the crowd going and is an old one I really liked. What I really love about this band is that we have three horn/saxophone players, a drummer, a key/piano player, a bass and a guitar player so this fills up the stage quite nicely and transports the music right into your soul. It’s raw live music. Nothing can beat this! They are all so very talented and know their instruments inside out. Plus what I really loved to see that they had sooo much fun on stage making good music. I think this good vibe feeling is so easily transported over to the crowd. That’s why the Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats gigs are always good fun!
“A little honey” is just a good feeling song and I can already picture myself driving down the road with the windows open in summer and having a good time listening to amazing music. For the next one the band put together a new and and old song “Cooling Out” and “Shake”. “Out on the Weekend” followed before Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats played their first single of the new record called “You Worry Me”. I must have listened to it so much that I actually thought it was one of the old songs ๐ But hey, that’s a good sign! An actual old song “Wasting Time” was performed next. I really really enjoyed the good atmosphere and the brilliant live music with an incredible voice.
That beautiful voice of Nathaniel Rateliff was shown off even more in “Babe I know”. After a short solo and a song called “Intro” we got to enjoy “I need Never get Old” and the party definitely started and the crazy continued. After a little dance on stage Nathaniel decided to walk down the stairs in front of me and actually lean over the barrier. I quickly moved out of his way. It was hilarious! Check out the video on my Instagram account by clicking
here. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the last record next to “Mellow Out” which I was hoping he would play. Unfortunately because he came on so late there was no time for more than 2 encore’s. And from what I gather is that this song would have been an option for an encore. Well I guess I just need to go see them again and hope for the best ๐
Nathaniel Rateliff asked us now to join in and sing-along to “Say it louder”. He said it’s really easy just “Say it louder, say it clearer” and the whole X-Tra joined in. Again what an atmosphere! “Baby I lost my Way” and “Hey Mama” rounded off the brilliant set. However Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats couldn’t leave without playing S.O.B. The Party was on and we all kneeled down just to jump up during the chorus. We were also turned into a huge choir and it was just a lot of fun!
The lads left the stage to the audience’s “ohhh ohhh ohhh” which didn’t fade until they started the first chords of “Trying so hard”. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats finished the set with a beautiful slow song and the title track “Tearing at the Seams”. His last words were:
Ich liebe dich
Adorable! He thanked us for our support more than once and you could really feel that it was appreciated. We – the audience – allow them to do what they love. It has to be an incredible feeling and I hope that they can continue to live their dream.
Have you been to one of their gigs? Leave a reply below and share your experience ๐
