Greta Van Fleet delivers great concert

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2022 (1163 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Let’s address the lead balloon, as it were, in the room right off the top: yes, Greta Van Fleet, a Grammy-winning American rock band, sounds a lot like a certain venerable English rock band.

In fact, for a while, that was all anyone could talk about when it came to these four classic-rock livin’ lovin’ guys from Michigan — brothers Josh (vocals), Jake (guitar) and Sam Kiszka (bass, keys), along with brother from another mother, drummer Danny Wagner — who named their band after an octogenarian grandmother from their hometown.

The band’s debut full-length album, 2018’s Anthem of the Peaceful Army, was a commercial success but the critics were out for blood. Many reviews were varying degrees of ruthless, but they were all united by a theme: this band sounds too much like Led Zeppelin. And, of course, the members of Greta Van Fleet became frustrated by the constant comparisons.

A couple things about that. One, if you don’t want people to compare you to Zeppelin, you should probably try to sound a bit less like Zeppelin. Two, you know whose first album also got absolutely harshed on by critics? Zeppelin.

It seems, however, Greta Van Fleet got most of the Led out on the first album. The band’s sophomore effort, 2021’s The Battle at Garden’s Gate, still leans heavily on ’70s rock influences, but it sounds more like pastiche of its members’ entire vinyl collection, not just those filed under ‘L.’

So, the music’s nothing ‘new’, exactly. But also, so what? That doesn’t make it bad. And it certainly makes for fun, as evidenced by Monday night’s concert at Canada Life Centre.

To wit: there were pyrotechnics in the first song of the night, Built By Nations. The third song of the set was just a massive drum solo from Wagner, who hit the skins hard. (While this was happening, frontman Josh Kiszka was being ferried around the floor via piggyback, handing out white roses to adoring fans.) Cheese was not in short supply.

Josh swanned the stage in a gold jumpsuit with sequinned applique flowers and a fabulous matching coat. He’s relatively slight in stature — most report him in at 5’6” — but he’s a huge presence, his voice absolutely hitting those rafters, especially on Safari Song — which is among their most Zep-influenced, right down to the “oh mamas” — and Black Smoke Rising, both off a pair of earlier EPs.

Apparently young and old can agree on Greta Van Fleet: the crowd was a true mix, with Gen Z and Millennial women wearing ’90s-doing-’70s bell bottoms and greying guys clad in, of course, Led Zeppelin T-shirts.

Guitarist Jake Kiszka’s muscular riffs served as an anchor for his brother’s voice, particularly on Caravel, and the Rush-indebted Heat Above from the latest album. Bassist Sam Kiszka’s turns on keys, as on Light My Love, were quite lovely.

The back half of the set gave both guitarist and drummer a lot of room to stretch out and flex their chops, particularly on the dramatic The Weight of Dreams, which took the main set out with an extended face-melter of a jam. (The main set only had about 10 songs, but was also somehow an hour and 15 minutes long.)

The band returned to the stage, awash in violet light, for an encore that included Age of Man, from Anthem of the Peaceful Army and Highway Tune, which got the crowd fired up again — a feat considering they played nearly non-stop for two hours.

There was no question about the quality of musicianship that was on display Monday night, but there was nothing particularly life-changing about it either. Theirs is a studied sound that reminds you of the bands that came before this one, and maybe even directly inspired this band, but not quite — and sometimes not at all. It’s a specific kind of uncanny valley created by young men who play new music that sounds old.

The Pretty Reckless — the New York City alt-rock act fronted by former actor Taylor Momsen (some will remember her as Jenny Humphrey from the CW teen drama Gossip Girl; others as Cindy Lou Who from 2000’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas) — turned in a thunderous set of heavy post-grunge rockers.

Momsen, with her shaggy bleach-blonde hair and big black boots, is a frontwoman through and through, and it helps that she still has a flair for the dramatic, alternately flopping around like a rag doll, throwing the horns, or stomping every inch of the stage. Her smoky rasp frequently had to compete with the Sabbath-sized guitars onstage, but she held her own. The band is touring in support of 2021’s Death by Rock and Roll and played a handful of tracks off that album — including a searing Witches Burn — but they also kicked it all the way back to 2010 with the song that started it all, the blistering You Make Me Wanna Die.

If you were on time for this gig, you were rewarded handsomely: South Carolina blues-rock guitar-shredder Hannah Wicklund kicked off the night with a short n’ sultry set that served as a showpiece for her powerful voice. A one to watch for sure.

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @JenZoratti