By Colin malone | March 30, 2025
Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats brought their first arena tour to Madison Square Garden in the heart of New York City on March 27, 2025 with Gregory Alan Isakov opening. Americana was on full display in the stadium with cowboy hats and leather jackets galore. Nathaniel Rateliff has a wide catalog of songs that will put you in a great mood and the crowd was there to prove it.
Kicking off the night was Gregory Alan Isakov with his 6 piece band. Somewhat in contrast to Rateliff, Gregory Alan Isakov is more known for his gentle melancholic music stylings in the indie folk world. Yet overhearing audience members talking before the show there was a large crossover of fans present. Isakov and his band played through their eight songs with very little breaks, except to marvel at playing at the world famous venue quipping “It’s so damn cool to play in a basketball place in New York. That’s what they call it right? A basketplace place? I know a lot about sports.”
After a short break Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats took the stage to the thunderous applause of a sold out Madison Square Garden. Almost immediately every person shot up from their seat ready for the upcoming great performance. The setlist of the night showed love to all 4 albums from the group, as well as some covers. Gregory Alan Isakov also took the stage to join Nathaniel for their recent collaboration “Flowers”. Concluding the night (pre-encore) was an electric performance of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” Nathaniel and the 7 members of his band The Night Sweats are certainly a show to catch.
Although a St. Louis native, Rateliff took plenty of time during the night to show the crowd how much New York meant to him to really connect with his audience. From reminiscing of previous New York shows he told the crowd this was their 25th performance in the city, proclaiming he was proud to bring the 25th NYC show to “not only one of the best arenas in this world, but one of the best cities in this world.” As a special tribute to the city they added the song “Only Living Boy in New York” by Paul Simon to the setlist. Closing out the night, the band started the encore with the Billboard charting hit “S.O.B.”, and as a surprise Nathaniel mid-song brought out Jimmy Fallon to help them continue. Not only had Rateliff been on The Tonight Show performing just days before, but Fallon’s appearance is a full circle, New York moment, as Fallon hosted the band on their first television performance back in 2015.
If Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats are coming to your city, and you have a love for Americana, folk rock, and soul, you would be remiss to not see this electric and engaging performance.
Colin Malone is a freelance photographer for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of his work here
