Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats: Moody Amphitheater: April 30, 2022

This show was good.  But I had a very bad attitude about it the entire time.  I can explain.

Last October, when shows were being announced for the new Moody Center, a friend reached out to see if I'd like to see George Strait and Willie Nelson open the new center.  Hell yeah, I would!  Are you kidding?  So I wrote him back and said I needed to check with the wife and then I'd get back to him.  Did I get back to him?  No, dear reader, I did not get back to him.  Idiot.  So, another friend hit me up to go see NR&tNS and I was like sure, that sounds like a fun night.  Put in on the calendar.  And then a few days before Willie/George, the first friend pinged me to talk logistics for our night out.  DAMMIT.  Felt like the right thing to do to honor my commitment to the people I had actually committed to, but I'm still so pissed that I didn't get to see King George and the Redheaded Stranger sing "Pancho and Lefty" together on the same stage.

BUT - that is not Nathaniel's fault.  All my fault.

We had a really good time at this show.  Ate some dinner at Scholtz's beforehand, with a few beers, which was a good plan because the beer at the Amp was insanely expensive.  Lovely night, and good company, we had tickets back in the lawn.  They have significantly improved the lawn experience since the Counting Crows show we saw there in the summer of 2021.  The speakers have been adjusted or something, because the sound was clear and solid.  So we just laid back on the lawn and had a lovely time listening to our buddy Nate belt his ass off.

And that's the thing, right?  Dude can freaking crank it with his voice.  He looks like he's all of 4'8" on that stage, but the voice that erupts from his little body is outsized by magnitudes.  His whole band was there to have a good time, and he bopped his way through a great set.  Wait, is that Sturgill Simpson in that video up above, playing guitar?  Weird.  Anyway, for sure, their best song continues to be "SOB," but the whole set was a lovely compliment to an evening in the grass with friends, a $36 cocktail for my wife, and a $45 bucket of four Dos Equis for me and my friends.  Yes, for a round of drinks, that likely had value of about $10, I paid $85.  Welcome to the new Austin.

Fun show, I'll probably catch him again in the fall at ACL!