Greta Van Fleet Proves Rock And Roll Is Not Dead

Retro rockers Greta Van Fleet made good on their promise last Monday to make up for the Oct. 13th show at the Municipal Auditorium which was postponed due to illness and they did not disappoint. The sold out show was well worth fighting the traffic and the rain. And although they are selling out shows all over the world they seem to get extra harsh almost Nickelback type criticism. Josh Kiszka’s voice sounds like Robert Plant … get over it.  It’s the voice God gave him and what’s wrong with sounding like arguably the best rock and roll vocalist of all time anyway? Aside from the occasional cover, the Frankenmuth, Michigan rockers write all of their own songs and are no doubt filling a void that has needed to be filled for a long time … straight up rock.

The band consists of brothers Josh Kiszka (lead vocals), Jake Kiszka (Lead guitar), and Sam Kiszka (bass/keyboards), and friend Danny Wagner (drums). Considering no one in the band is over 23 they’ve accomplished a lot in a short amount of time including three Grammy nominations and a Grammy award for “Best Rock Album” this year. The band also performed at Elton John’s 2018 AIDS Foundation Oscar Party and have played multiple late night TV shows.

The audience at Monday’s show was impressive in that it included every age group. Greta Van Fleet is filling a void of that classic hard rock sound in a fresh new way and time will tell but I think there here to stay. Right now the critics can’t keep up with their meteoric rise to fame.  The foursome worked all summer on their sophomore album which is expected to come out early next year.

–Jerry Holthouse

Set list from Tuesday’s show.

Edge of Darkness
Black Smoke Rising
The Music Is You
(John Denver cover)
You’re the One
Age of Man
Black Flag Exposition
Watching Over
The Cold Wind
When the Curtain Falls
Encore:
Flower PowerWatch Me
Safari Song