At one point early during Greta Van Fleet’s Detroit concert on Friday, frontman Josh Kiszka pulled a mini bottle of alcohol out of the pocket of his sparkly little jacket, placed it between his lips, knocked his head back, and chugged it hands-free before discarding it over his shoulder. The young band, originally from Frankemnuth but now based in Nashville, brought its Starcatcher tour to Little Caesars Arena — its biggest Michigan concert to date, with the triumphant feel of a home-turf show.
It’s not hard to see why they’re filling arenas. Greta Van Fleet is just the four guys — brothers Jake Kiszka on guitar and Sam Kiszka on bass, and Danny Wagner on drums — playing straightforward, classic rock-indebted music together in a room, with plenty of bluesy jamming and scorching, crowd-pleasing solos. They’re the kind of act that can get away with shamelessly mining and rehashing the high-fantasy imagery of J. R. R. Tolkien and the folky sounds of Led Zeppelin, and also relay an anecdote about meeting Kid Rock backstage and bonding over blowing shit up. (There are lots of pyrotechnics, too.)
Riding the Starcatcher theme, fans dressed up in shimmering retro-inspired ’fits, and many waved rainbow pride flags to celebrate Josh, who came out earlier this year. The concert ended with a gratuitous stretch that saw the boys strutting around onstage in various levels of shirtlessness. L.A.’s Surf Curse opened the show.
