Greta Van Fleet (2021)

One Liner: If Led Zeppelin and Rush had babies and they rocked
Wikipedia Genre:  Hard rock, blues rock, progressive rock
Home: Frankenmuth, Michigan

Poster Position: 3
Day: Sunday at 6:30 on the Lady Bird Stage
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  They were last here in 2018.  Here is what I had to say after that show: "Greta Van Fleet.  Yes.  I know the world is likely tired of me talking about these dudes, but this show was a freaking jam.  For the second song, they took "Highway Tune," that song up above, and turned it into a Pearl-Jam-esque ten minute jam session that sounded like it should have closed out the whole festival.  These dudes look like high schoolers but stalked the stage and shredded like old pros.  Totally awesome show."

I still have good memories from that show.  These guys can freaking jam.  If you like rock, blues rock, or Led Zeppelin (which would pretty succinctly describe the majority of my musical leanings), then these guys are your new favorite band.  Or, you could be the assholes who hate them for being legit.  I know some people will make fun of me for loving these guys, but I think they are great.  Look, I understand the three basic issues with their music:

They are derivative.  I know they are stealing the schtick of someone who came before them.  But so what?  I can love Led Zeppelin and Wolfmother.  I can love The Struts and Queen.  I can love early Tame Impala and the Beatles.  I can love Gary Clark Jr. and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I can love Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix.  I can love old Coldplay and old Radiohead.  I can love Royal Blood and cleopatrick.  The Black Keys have made a killing off of yanking old blues riffs and classic 60's guitar rock sounds into the modern age without apology.  I don't understand the vitriol for trying to make new music that sounds like something classic.  More importantly for me, personally, the instrumentation on these tracks is fucking rock solid.  If you are a fan of the basic guitar, bass, drums setup of classic rock, then these guys are doing the damn thing.

The lead singer sounds like a dying rabbit.  Yeah, I get that some people may dislike the lead singer's voice.  He uses registers that few dare to leap to.  But not everyone was a fan of Robert Plant (or hell, Geddy Lee, or Axl Rose, or Michael Stipe, or Jack White, or Willie Damn Nelson) - and as I listen, I'm actually mentally comparing him more to Lee than Plant.  But when I think about replacing his vocal fireworks with something less interesting, I don't see the band being as interesting.  Like, the thought of Bob Dylan taking over and muddling through the lyrics in an atonal whine - just doesn't work.  And if the lyrics were all song in an entirely understandable way within a common range, how much fun would that be?  I just don't see how anyone can quibble with the tunes going on behind them.  These dudes are legit on their respective instruments and are making a great classic rock sound.  Imagine boring ass Chris Martin singing these words.  Wouldn't work the same.

The lyrics are pretentious.  The other issue people have is with the lyrics.  And again, man, you're talking about a genre with massive hits that have outrageously silly lyrics, but that take themselves seriously.  Obviously, "Yellow Submarine" or "Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida" are intentionally silly.  But Zeppelin singing some shit about Lord of the Rings?  The entirety of Creed's lyrics?  Van Halen as a whole?  Train?  311 singing that "amber is the color of your energy?"  Sting just punting the chorus on behalf of the Police for "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da?"  Steve Miller mentioning that some people call him "Maurice?"  Muse?  "Jack & Diane" and sucking on a chili dog?  "You Get What You Give?"  "Dust in the Wind?"  Oh, freaking "The Trees" from Rush?  "There is trouble in the forest, and the creatures all have fled! As the maples scream oppression, and the oaks just shake their heads."  Pretension abounds in rock lyrics.  So, if these guys need to sing some clunkers like “There are so many people. Some are much younger people and some are so old.” "And the planet is still turning, And the faces are still burning, And the mothers with their children, Search for the rain." or "God machine, Malfunctioned as it grew, And the circuits blew, Falling down on you, Now you're free, Unplug from the source, No more underscores, Open up the doors."  Mmmkay.  BUT, that last actual track, for "Age of Machine" sounds dope as hell!  

In short, get over it.  This jams.  If you don't like it, I bet you like Hardy and are a bad person.

The band is three brothers (vocalist Josh Kiszka, guitarist Jake Kiszka, bassist Sam Kiszka) and some other dude who is not their brother (drummer Danny Wagner).  The weirdest thing about them so far is the damn band name.  I've brought the group up to several different people, and they always think this is a woman singer they haven't heard of yet (which was kind of funny when Sharon Van Etten was a few lines down on the poster a last time).  Their name apparently came from some random person in their home town, who is named Gretna Van Fleet.  They should have named themselves after their hometown instead - Frankenmuth - sounds badass.  

The lady, Gretna, is apparently 90 years old, and knows how to throw some shade on the upstart young boys.  This article shows that they brought her down to a show in Detroit, where she said: "she enjoyed it 'as much as I could. It's not really my kind of music, but people enjoy it and the boys did a good job of presenting it.'"  That is hilarious to me.  These kids made her name immortal, paid for her and her posse to come down to Detroit and see their show and hang out backstage and all that, and she's like "meh, gimme some Dean Martin, yo."  Later in the article, she says she laughed it off when they named the band after her, saying "That won't last long. That's not a name for a band."  I love this brassy old lady.  She gives no shits and I'm renaming my girls after her later today.

Anyway, you came here for the tunes.  Their most listened to is the "Highway Tune," with 125.8 million streams.  Get in there.

Just that little vocal "ahhhhhhh-aaahhh?" in the intro sounds like Plant.  Without those vocals, this band would owe a debt to Zep, but it wouldn't be quite so close.  With the howling vocal, it really sounds like Zeppelin.  Their third most streamed tune also gives you a similar experience.  "Safari Song" has just over 72.5 million streams and a howl at the start that owes 100% of royalties to the golden god.

Totally serious, if you didn't know what you were listening to, would you think that was a new band of 20 year olds from Frankenturd Michigan, or would you guess that this was an old Zeppelin b-side that had been unearthed?  I don't think, for a minute, that this guitarist is as good as Jimmy Page back in the day, but still, the overall sound is just too close to ignore.

And other spots do this too - the organ solo in "Flower Power" is a kissing cousin to the one in Zep's "Your Time is Gonna Come."  And the vocals use some of the same little asides and tossoffs that Plant uses the "my my!" thing in "Highway Song" being a good example.  And sometimes this pushes outside of the Plant sound and becomes more like the Wolfmother singer's howl.  But whatever, I would go watch the guys play immediately.

So, both of those songs are off of their 2017 EP - From the Fires.  It's all very good.  But at the time, it just didn't feel like enough.  But, this was all I had to go on for the first time I saw them play live.  AND - that little EP went on to win the 2019 Grammy for Best Rock Album.  So I wasn't alone in thinking it was legit.  

Anyway, right after I saw them, they put out Anthem of the Peaceful Army.  I had been THIRSTY for this album to show up.  But they shafted up the opening of the album (IMHO).

"Age of Man" whispers into a slow intro, with some proggy sounds like I'm listening to Wolfmother covering a long lost Rush tune about D&D.  Finally, after a minute, some laconic guitar riffs kick in, but the song never really gets off the beach, even when it gets louder for the chorus, its still just a plodding clump of rock-flavored tofu.  Who starts their new album with a six minute slog like that?  Dang!  Just a pompous, self-important sound that deflated my joy like Austin Powers' peen while thinking of the old Iron Lady on a cold day.     

But then the second song holds the promise I've been wanting all along - "The Cold Wind" breaks down some good licks, sweet drum breaks, a solid groove.  That's the right stuff.  And then "When the Curtain Falls" is similar.  "When the Curtain Falls" is the top stream-getter, so here you go.  51.4 million streams.

Yeah baby.  The majority of these songs are good, but they're just not as good as "Highway Tune" or "Black Smoke Rising" or "Flower Power."  "Anthem" adds some Cat Stevens to the Zeppelin comparison.  Man, I really wish that first song wasn't so lame.  After a few more listens, I really enjoy the rest of the album, but that first tune just starts the whole thing off on the wrong foot.  Oh well, no perfection, but still very good if you like Led Zeppelin.

And then, you get 2021's The Battle at Garden's Gate.  

I noted in an older post that one of these tracks - "My Way, Soon" actually sounds like the instrumental for a Pearl Jam song that would have been at home on Vs.  Of course, it starts with that goofy first line, an observation about the fact that humans have ages.  "Age of Machine" jams so here you go.  9.9 million streams.

Like, if the lead singer's weird ass wail wasn't slowly added to the mix in the opening portion, would it even be the same song?  Or just a Soundgarden dirge about suicide?  Actually, that's a good comp here - Chris Cornell used to wail like a crazy person, over the top of heavy rock instrumentation, and yet he was well-loved (I think?).  I think this is just what the internet does now - needlessly hypes one thing (looking at you Drake) into oblivion, and then snarks the next thing to death.  And so, while I get that some people may think this sounds goofy, and dated, and copycattish, but I will stand by the fact that if you just let yourself enjoy something instead of being a prick, you'll find so much pleasure in the world.

But the streaming king on this album is actually "Heat Above," with 18.7 million streams.

There's some more of that "You're Time is Gonna Come" organ, baby!  And the guitar work!  Man, it all just works.  I'm definitely going to raise my hands over my head and sing this chorus in a few weeks.  Listen, if you want to be a joyless turd who doesn't love the fun things that the world can bring to your doorstep, be my guest.  I'll be at this show bouncing around and enjoying what little life we all have left.