Nathaniel Rateliff kicks off Festival

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats will serve as the opener to the 2019 Festival at Sandpoint, a music and cultural festival spread across two weekends that has been a local mainstay for nearly four decades.

Led by the band’s namesake, multi-instrumentalist Nathaniel Rateliff, the Denver via Missouri octet specializes in a blend of folk and old-school R&B. Formed in 2013, the band’s first major breakthrough was a 2015 appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” in which they played their single “S.O.B.” Shortly thereafter, “S.O.B.” was featured in commercials for Lipton, Infiniti, plus the season three premiere of FX’s crime drama “Fargo.”

The band enters Sandpoint on the heels of its second studio album “Tearing at the Seams,” released on the legendary soul label Stax Records in March 2018. Buoyed by the single “You Worry Me,” the band’s third album takes a similar approach from its self-titled debut, but adds elements of lo-fi garage rock and even country.

They will be joined by Lucius, a four-piece indie pop band from Los Angeles via Brooklyn. Both bands will play in Sandpoint for the first time tonight.

The Festival at Sandpoint takes place at War Memorial Field, 855 Ontario St. Early entry gates open at 5:45 p.m. while general admission access is at 6 p.m. The concert will begin around 7 p.m.

Early entry tickets are sold out, but general admission tickets start at $59.95