Greta Van Fleet Packs the Paramount

Hailing from Frankenmuth, MI, Greta Van Fleet have been taking the rock and roll world, wait, the entire music world by storm. Josh Kiszka (vocals), Jake Kiszka (guitar), Sam Kiszka (bass) and Danny Wagner (drums) released their debut EP, Black Smoke Rising, digitally in April 2017 and then physically in August 2017. The bad has received praises and critical acclaim for their bluesy rock and roll.

It’s hard to believe that it has been less than a year since Greta Van Fleet has been in Seattle. They were last here in October 2017 when they played to an absolutely jam packed Tractor Tavern. Eleven months later, the boys were back in Seattle, this time kicking off their fall tour with two sold out nights at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. Though night one went off without a hitch, sadly night two had to be postponed and will be rescheduled at another time.

With the recent releases of two singles, “When the Curtains Falls” which made its debut in July of this year, as well as “Watching Over” which made its debut on Sept 7^th, as well as the announcement of the band’s first full length album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, the band had been generating a lot of buzz. Judging by the crowd that came out early for the sold out general admission event, people were more than excited to see what that had to offer.

With no introduction, the band made their way to a backlit and smoke filled stage and received a thunderous applause. The band opened their set with their ever popular “Highway Tune”. Jake, Sam and Danny were charging full steam, Josh interacted with the audience, as he tossed flowers to the members of the front row. Some of the fans had brought their own flowers, and proceeded to shower the stage with them.
With and extended bridges, choruses and a wicked guitar solo by Jake, the extended take of “Highway Tune” segued into the slower and more bluesy “Edge of Darkness”. Again, with extended choruses and solos, the band were on point, especially Jake who at was firing off note after note while playing his Gibson SG behind his head during the song’s blistering guitar solo.

The stage backline was amps, keyboards, drums and a new lighting production. The band not only brought with them some great musicianship, but they also brought along with them a new found confidence. The band has progressed as musicians and Josh has become a very solid front man. The band performed “Flower Power”, which saw Sam take to the Hammond Sk2 organ as well as the bass pedals. The band then performed some new music. “You’re the One”, “Watching Over”,  and “When the Curtain Falls”, the latter which concluded the band’s set and will also be included on the upcoming Anthem of the Peaceful Army.

The crowd then proceeded to clap, stomp and yell loudly for one more. The band obliged and made their way back to the stage and performed “Black Smoking Rising” before finishing the night with “Safari Song”. The audience were singing along with Josh and the band were appreciative of the audience being full of energy and enthusiasm.

Though the entire set was around the 75 minute mark and consisted of nine songs, the band was exceptional from beginning to end. What Greta Van Fleet has accomplished in relatively short time is nothing short of amazing.

Set List
Highway Tune
Edge of Darkness
Flower Power
You’re The One
Evil
Watching Over
Curtain Falls

Encore
Black Smoke Rising
Safari Song

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