The way I started listening to Greta Van Fleet was sort of a happy accident. The first time I heard them was in high school, in my friend Sarah’s car. She played me a song from a CD her dad had given her, and I remember liking it, but for some reason or another, my interest didn’t last much longer than that. About a year later, I was searching for something on YouTube, and a typo resulted in me clicking on the suggested result of Greta Van Fleet’s newest music video at the time. I fell down a YouTube hole for approximately three days, as one does, and from there on out, I’ve loved them.
Let me give you the Greta Van Fleet rundown. Contrary to what you might be thinking, Greta isn’t a lady but a group of four young guys from Michigan. They’re a band of brothers, Josh and Jake being the eldest identical twins, Sammy being their younger brother, and Danny being their close friend, and very clearly, a brother from another mother. They’ve been making music together since they were kids, and their synchronicity is proof of that. The band has a sound influenced by their families’ old rock and roll and blues records and has come together around their own talents, experimentation with music and world views. Now, with the oldest of them being only 25, they have released one EP, two albums and have toured the world playing rock and roll music to people from age 8 to 80.
My own taste in music has always been heavily influenced by the sounds of the classic rock radio stations in the car when I was growing up. Until I found Greta Van Fleet, this sound was something I’d mentally filed away as something that belonged only to the past. My classic rock loves, like Queen, Tom Petty and Bowie, were all sort of in this far away bubble, with songs that define a time I only knew of from pictures and retellings of stories. As much as I connected with their music and continue to carry it with me every day, there was always this bittersweetness in knowing that, in one way or another, many of those artists are gone. Listening to Greta Van Fleet makes that nostalgic feeling of the 70s music I love finally tangible. I don’t think the appeal in their songs for me is that they feel like they’re right out of that classic rock period, but I get the sense that they’ve grown out of an appreciation for that music that I also identify so closely with.
The first time I saw Greta Van Fleet was at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, a venue that’s filled with a rich rock and roll history. Shortly after I started listening to them, it was on a cool spring night, and the venue was filled with people who had waited in line all day to experience Greta up close. I was 17 and standing there with Sarah that night; it’s safe to say I fell even deeper in love with their sound. I had been a pretty avid concert-goer at that point, but this was the first time I got to experience live music the way it’s supposed to be. There are no backtracks, no fancy distractions, but just four guys on stage doing what they love most: playing rock and roll. The energy of the crowd was something I’ll never forget. By the time I left, I couldn’t feel my legs, but I would’ve stood there for another day if they’d kept playing. I saw them again in Philadelphia, this time standing a row away from the stage, at their last show before the pandemic.
If you haven’t listened to Greta Van Fleet yet, I highly recommend it. Having a band that you love is one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s even better when that band is made up of some cool, really nice people. Just in the past few years, I’ve already watched Greta Van Fleet grow their fanbase and evolve their sound, and I’m so excited to see what they do and where they go next. Getting to be a part of their supporters at this point is something I won’t take for granted, and I plan on going to many concerts and listening to a lot of Greta for a long, long time.