On Friday night, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats lit up MGM Music Hall for the first of two back-to-back shows, delivering a set that was equal parts grit and groove.

Opening the evening was Kevin Morby, the Texas-born singer-songwriter perhaps best known for his time in the band Woods. A talented musician with thoughtful, stripped-down songwriting, Morby’s set was intimate. Maybe too intimate for a venue built for big sound and even bigger energy. Still, his craftsmanship shone through, and the crowd respectfully soaked it in.

Rateliff, on the other hand, came to shake the walls—and he did. The band’s horn-laced, soul-soaked set was a masterclass in high-octane live performance. A standout moment came when Morby returned to the stage for a moody, reverent take on Leonard Cohen’s “There is a War,” offering a moment of quiet weight before the party kicked back in.

The official set closed with a crowd-pleasing cover of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” but the night was far from over. A dual encore brought the house down, anchored by the thunderous singalong of “S.O.B.” and the irresistibly bouncy “Love Don’t.”

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