NonCOMM recap: No worries for Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Nathaniel Rateliff and the | photo by Dylan Eddinger | dylaneddingerphoto.squarespace.com

It goes without saying that all of Denver-based Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats‘ most recent releases have all been radio hits. WXPN sure knows it. Second to last on night three’s downstairs stage, they delivered all new songs for a joyous thirty minute set. Fresh off the hype from their March album Tearing at the Seams, World Cafe’s Talia Schlanger introduced the band by saying that while she doesn’t like to play favorites, she is the most excited for their act. They’re due back in Philadelphia on June 6th to play The Skyline Stage at The Mann Center.

The band – a seven-piece consisting of brass, percussion, and electric string sections – took the stage before Rateliff to lead into “Shoe Boot,” a jumpy, quintessential country rock jam. Rateliff has a lot of layers to his music, and country isn’t the only defining genre. There were elements of a blues ballad in “Babe I Know,” 1960’s swing beats in “Say It Louder,” and a more relaxed indie sound with “Be There,” especially when the band cut out to simply clap out the rhythm for the final verse. Rateliff is a very multidimensional artist, but on top of everything else, he’s fun.

It was hard not to smile and dance along when “You Worry Me,” the track I was most excited for, was finally played. Whether you like his sound or not, his attitude is infectious. He’s your typical funny guy, making a face or cracking a joke whenever he can. While the crowd anxiously waited for the last album’s hit, “S.O.B.,” Rateliff sensed the anticipation and laughed about how the band had tried to make the track more “radio appropriate,” but in the end, he still has the humor of a child. Then they ended on not “S.O.B.,” but rather the latest single, “Mama,” and the crowd loved it all the same.

This was one of my most excitable acts of NonCOMM, and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats endlessly expressed their appreciation for radio right back to us. The band is no stranger to WXPN or World Cafe, and we definitely haven’t seen the last of them. Check out photos from the set in the gallery below.