‘Concert events feed our souls’: Nathaniel Rateliff’s followers moist and wild at Montreal jazz fest

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As they shared an umbrella by the Montreal jazz fest’s foremost stage at downtown’s Place des Festivals, a little bit of rain wasn’t going to dampen Sloan and Rob Prevost’s spirits Tuesday evening.

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Staking out a front-row spot practically two hours earlier than showtime, the couple stated the COVID-19 pandemic had robbed them of concert events for greater than two years.

Now, dancing within the rain as a crowd slowly constructed round them, they likened the expertise to coming again to life.

“It’s been 2 1/2 years since we’ve seen any live performance, and concert events feed our souls,” Sloan Prevost, 29, stated as she shook the raindrops off her umbrella.

“I couldn’t consider a greater approach to get again to it than with Nathaniel Rateliff and the Evening Sweats.”

The Colorado-based band was headlining the second massive outside blowout present of this 12 months’s Montreal Worldwide Jazz Competition Tuesday evening.

With the competition again in full power after two toned-down pandemic editions, concertgoers began filling the location within the late afternoon.

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Carrying umbrellas and wearing rain ponchos, Montrealers and vacationers alike had been grateful for the competition’s return to type, huddling beneath coated terrasses and tents between units.

Bob Miller, 78, made the journey from St. Petersburg, Fla., after having final attended the competition some 15 years in the past. Strolling round from stage to stage, he stated he was pleased to see the realm so vibrant after two tough years.

“It’s very nice,” Miller stated. “It was arduous to be pinned up behind a masks and have to dine exterior, so it’s nice to lastly be out.”

Earlier, Carol Shore might barely include her pleasure as she watched her daughter’s image flash by on the big display screen behind her.

Shore’s daughter Stacey Ryan was enjoying the principle stage at 6 p.m. — the largest present up to now of the 21-year-old’s younger profession.

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And the proud mom was not going to overlook one second of it . Collectively together with her husband and different daughter, she arrived early from their residence in Vaudreuil-Dorion to safe the absolute best view.

“We need to be entrance and centre and bought the cellphone able to movie,” Shore stated. “It’s tremendous aggravating, however tremendous thrilling on the similar time.”

Shore stated Ryan performed the stage throughout a music camp again in 2016, so to see her return to it to carry out as a featured act through the jazz competition was arduous to place into phrases.

“She was born and raised right here, so it’s fairly neat,” Shore stated. “This may be the largest one up to now, however there’s a lot extra to return for her.”

As scheduled, Rateliff and his band stepped onto the stage shortly after 9:30 p.m., bringing to life the moist however raucous crowd gathered in anticipation.

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“It’s a pleasure to be again right here in Montreal,” Rateliff informed followers. “We missed you all and it’s good to be right here with you. Thanks for standing within the rain.”

In an interview with the Montreal Gazette final week, Rateliff stated he drew inspiration for the band’s newest album, The Future, partly from the darkish instances introduced on by the pandemic.

However on stage Tuesday, the band launched into its setlist with infectious, upbeat power as Rateliff’s highly effective vocals had been backed by a brass part.

By the third music of the evening, the crowd-pleasing Look It Right here, these readily available had all however forgotten in regards to the climate.

Virtually all dropped their umbrellas to embrace the rain — and, seemingly, the return of large-scale festivals to the town.

“Look it right here,” they sang together with Rateliff, “child I’m fortunate now.”

The Montreal Worldwide Jazz Competition continues by Saturday, July 9. For tickets and extra info, go to montrealjazzfest.com.

jfeith@postmedia.com

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