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Review: Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats at...

Review: Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats at the O2 Guildhall Southampton

It’s been a rough day. If we press on with love and hope then we can make it through together.

I began yesterday evening enjoying the company of Portsmouth’s finest photography talent at our Strong Island Calendar launch. However, I needed to leave half way through and head over to the O2 Guildhall in Southampton to check out one of my favourite bands of the year, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats.

I first became aware of the band after their performance on BBC2’s Later with Jools Holland at the end of last year. Earlier this year I sadly had to sell my tickets for their show at Brighton’s Concorde 2 so there was no chance that I was going to miss them this time round!

It was a testament to their widespread appeal that the crowd consisted of all ages, I was stood talking to a fella in his 60’s while just in front of me was a couple wou’d brought their 6 year old son. Some might question the idea of taking a child so young to a large gig like this but I say well played on providing a great musical education!

After keeping us waiting a little while longer than advertised, the lights went down and six shadowy figures picked up their instruments and eased the crowd into the set with a nice instrumental. Soon after, another figure entered the stage and the crowd erupted with applause.

Nathaniel greeted the crowd and acknowledged the American election result earlier that day but encouraged us that “If we press on with love and hope then we can make it through together.”

The band looking like they were fresh from a Levis photoshoot got straight into their big hitters with the fantastic ‘I’ve Been Failing‘ and ‘I Need Never Get Old.’ Forget Strictly, Chromeo would have been impressed with Nathaniel’s fancy footwork!

Towards the middle of the set Nathaniel treated us to an exquisite solo performance of ‘I’d Be Waiting‘ before the band rejoined him on stage for ‘Shake.’ The rock n roll cliché is smashing your guitar on stage but not with these guys, Nathaniel managed to destroy his tambourine when he threw it to the floor and it shattered into smash pieces all over the stage.  They finished their set on a high with the crowd dancing and clapping along to the fantastic ‘S.O.B.’

This is certainly one of the best live performances that I have seen in a long time and I want to say thank you to the folks at 7S Management for making me so welcome. If this is the first time you’ve heard of the band then I encourage you to get involved and check out their self-titled debut album and their new EP ‘A Little Something More From Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats’ which are both released on Stax Records.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of the band then I encourage you to get involved and check out their self-titled debut album and their new EP ‘A Little Something More From Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats’ which are both available now on Stax Records.

Facebook | Twitter @NRateliff | Instagram | SoundcloudSpotify |

For further listings on upcoming events at the O2 Guildhall Southampton check out their website o2guildhallsouthampton.co.uk.

📷 by Stuart Barker


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  1. Martin and Carly Winterburn

    7 December

    We were the couple with our 6 year old son … and all 3 of us had a great … no fantastic evening

    And young Sid went to school the following day full of stories to tell his friends … he did go to bed early after school mind you

    Glad you enjoyed the concert as much as we did …

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