Review: Nathaniel Rateliff’s Night Sweats remain hot after a steady 10-year ascent

Some bands jump from clubs to arenas in just a matter of a year or two. And then there’s Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, who gradually worked their way up the ladder of Twin Cities music venues over the past decade to reach the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night — and make it seem absolutely well-deserved when they got there.

Rateliff and his Denver-based soul-rock big band had their big coming-out gig in St. Paul nine years ago at the much smaller Turf Club, just as their first hit “S.O.B.” was taking off. Since then, they’ve played First Avenue, an afternoon slot at Rock the Garden, Northrop Auditorium, the Palace Theatre, Surly Brewing Festival Field and the headlining slot at the last Rock the Garden in 2022.

Saturday’s high-energy, often breathlessly paced performance demonstrated how much know-how they picked up along the way and how well their no-nonsense approach works in whatever room they’re playing. This was one arena concert that was all about the music and nothing else.

Rateliff’s fellow Coloradan singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov — who’s also played his share of Twin Cities venues over the past decade — opened the show with a violin- and piano-drenched five-piece band. His mellow, elegant brand of folk rock could have been lost in the still-filling arena, but fans were quiet, attentive and responsive from the dramatic big sonic wave of “This Empty Northern Hemisphere” to the quiet, all-acoustic closer “The Stable Song.” The finale actually earned them a standing ovation, something you rarely see for a warm-up act.

It took Rateliff and the band a few songs to get fans moving on their feet. “I’m on Your Side” and a darkly funky “Survivor” offered a dramatic but less-than-exuberant start to the show.

However, the jubilation turned on big time with the fourth song, “Look It Here,” the first in a string of Sam & Dave-style, soul rave-ups that demonstrated why it was fitting for Rateliff’s crew to get their big break via the revived Memphis-based Stax Records label. The horn-heavy, hard-grooving run continued with “Intro” and “I Need Never Get Old.” By the latter tune, many of the 8,500 fans in attendance were excitedly doing their own nighttime sweating.

Rateliff took note of his band’s hard-earned ascent in Minnesota as he caught his breath.

“I feel like we’ve played so many venues here,” he said, as a photo appeared on the video screen of him hanging out in the Turf Club’s basement Clown Lounge in 2015 when they shot a video for “A Little Honey” there (the song that came next).

“Whether in St. Paul or Minneapolis or around the state, you’ve been here with us on this journey,” Rateliff added with discernible gratitude.

Even after a decade of hard touring, the burly 46-year-old singer still has a powerful and booming voice graced with a tender, wearied undertone. Credit for his continued vitality as a vocalist no doubt could partially go to the subject of that first hit, “S.O.B.” (sober living). He’s also written some mighty lovely and richly textured tunes since then to show off his emotional strengths.

Several of those slower, soul-stirring highlights came midway in an enticing run that included “Face Down in the Moment” and “Wasting Time.” Rateliff showed off an even broader range in the second half — at times sounding Van Morrison-like — in some of the ambitiously arranged songs off their new album, “South of Here,” including the stormy lament “Remember I Was a Dancer” and the poetic but rollicking single “Heartless.” Another impressive vocal moment came when Isakov came back out to sing “Flowers” with Rateliff late in the set.

Gifted soul singers like Rateliff are just icing without a cake, though, if they don’t have a thick and hearty band behind them. The seven-man Night Sweats lineup filled the big room in giant ways Saturday, especially toward the end of the 100-minute set with a final run that included a full-tilt cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” and an encore stomp-along version of “S.O.B.” They too seemed ready to see all their hard work pay off.