Believe it or not, the Cinco de Mayo crowd at Jannus Live was not overrun by sombreros. There were one or two sprinkled in there, and at least half a dozen mini sombreros dotted the scene, but on Saturday a sold-out courtyard seemed more content to follow the lead of the Stetson-wearing folk crooner whose name illuminated the marquee outside.
The Night Sweats gave Nathaniel Rateliff a showman's entrance, and while the 21-song set fell just short of being drenched in soul, the 39-year-old (with the help of a three-piece horn section) did hint at the Memphis influence that runs through the veins of the band’s brand new album, Tearing at the Seams (released in March).
There was the Redding-esque sway on “A Little Honey” and muscled-up rhythm of “Intro,” which found the saxophone screeching through solos before Rateliff slammed his tambourine into the crowd as part-time Blue Rider organist Mark Shusterman leaned hard and long into one of the 90-minute show’s many great Hammond moments. “Babe I Know” felt like the intro to an old TV show or the sound of your parents’ old 45 collection, and hearing Rateliff and his band strut through “You Worry Me” was revelatory. A smoky horn line is at the heart of “Baby I Lost My Way, (But I'm Going Home),” but Rateliff doles out all the woe of the melancholy message with the kind of weight usually delivered by soul singers at least 20 years older than he is. Throughout it all, Rateliff, with his shirt unbuttoned halfway down, was powerful...and perspiring heavily.
“It was a pleasant evening earlier, the rain came and made it so humid,” Rateliff said early in the set, “but it wouldn't be the night sweats of we weren't sweating our asses off.”
The audience was happy to put a load of work in, too. It shimmied along with the band on “Out on the Weekend,” and went wild for a set-opening harp solo during “Shoe Boot.” The assembled even refused to leave after a predictably rowdy run through “S.O.B.,” singing the song’s “oh, oh oh, oh, oh, oh” over and over again until the band re-emerged for a three-song encore.
It was quite the curtain call, and Rateliff — who was short on banter through most of the set — did make one request of the Night Sweats faithful.
“Take care of each other and yourself,” he said, sounding like a preacher before set-closing highlight “Tearing at the Seams," ”but remember to be take better care of the person next to you than you would yourself.”
Rateliff might wear one kind of hat onstage, but it’s nice to hear the soulful, big man work through every aspect of his repertoire is a joy.
Check back for more photos from the show, and check out a playlist of songs from the setlist on Spotify.
Setlist
Shoe Boot
Be There
Look It Here
I Did It
Howling At Nothing
A Little Honey
Coolin’ Out
Out on the Weekend
You Worry Me
Wasting Time
I’d Be Waiting (solo)
Babe I Know
Intro
I Need Never Grow Old
Baby I Lost My Way, (But I'm Going Home)
Say It Louder
Hey Mama
S.O.B.
—
Trying So Hard Not to Know
Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen)
Tearing At The Seams
