Greta Van Fleet have kicked off their 2022 Dreams in Gold tour with 3 stops in their home state of Michigan to hordes of enthusiastic fans traveling in from all over the country. With their intended five-show run cut short due to illness, it’s safe to say that their hometown show in Saginaw was their most electrifying of the three, but remember, it’s Greta Van Fleet we’re talking about – even if they played the whole show sitting down, it would still be one of the best shows you’ve ever seen.
Having seen them live in Grand Rapids the night before, there was something in the air in Saginaw that made this hometown show different. GVF were on fire in a way I hadn’t yet seen before, fueled by the hometown hero energy that filled the Dow Event Center and the thousands of screaming fans that couldn’t get enough of what they were seeing.
There was a confidence to all four rockers that was unlike any other, and that confidence was well-deserved. The last time the band played this venue in Saginaw, they were opening for the legendary Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band. It was quite the full circle moment, and the band acknowledged as much on stage. Despite not being from Michigan myself, I couldn’t help but beam with pride at how far they’ve come since then. They played their hearts out, interacting with each other and with fans with smiling faces for the duration of their two-hour set. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen.
Of course, one of the most important things about a Greta Van Fleet live show is getting there early to see the opening acts that the band hand selects. An immediate fan favorite from the start of the tour was The Velveteers, and rightfully so. They managed to give the room a full and cohesive rock show in their 6-song set, leaving everything they had on that stage. In true GVF-fan fashion, it became clear that many of us had listened to their stuff ahead of the tour. I noticed people all around the venue singing along to Charmer and the Snake. I’d hazard a guess that many would say the highlight of their set is the moment where Baby, the band’s always well-dressed drummer, drops down right in front of the pit and places a drum in a fan’s hands, beating away while the pit screams. They were loud, they captivated the crowd, they were rock ‘n’ roll.
Rival Sons also didn’t disappoint. Having been around a few years longer than GVF, it was such fun to see this already-established band being introduced to a new audience. I’ve heard many people talking about how much they ended up liking these guys. The power of Jay Buchanan’s live vocals cannot be disputed, and the band demonstrated a cohesiveness you might only expect from a band who’d been together for several decades. They know what they’re doing, and they do it well. What was especially fun about their set in Saginaw was that with just a few songs left in their set, the lights went out. Being the professionals they are, they kept going, and GVF fans in the first several rows of the pit pulled out their phones and lit the rest of the set. It’s a surreal kind of moment, watching musicians and music fans come together to make the most out of a wild situation. You could tell Rival Sons appreciated the love, and the fans appreciated the rock.
Greta Van Fleet are nothing if not cinematic, and their tour intro was truly straight out of a movie. It doesn’t begin when the lights drop; no, just as with the Strange Horizons tour, the room is first flooded with a Jethro Tull tune, Reasons for Waiting. Fans who were around during the last tour know exactly what that song precedes, and you can feel the energy in the room shift when that tune begins as a result. People grow less focused on their phones or their friends and shift their attention to the big black curtain still hiding the stage from view. The song ends, and energy is high. At this point, everyone knows that the show they’ve waited months for is about to begin. Low instrumental music slowly begins to swell, and when it reaches its peak, the lights cut out and the arena erupts with screams. All focus goes to that big black curtain, Josh Kiszka’s wail from The Weight of Dreams fills the air, a gorgeous instrumental begins, and Josh’s speaking voice floods the arena.
All across the world we travel wayward for in search of things to hold.
I’ve asked in moments filled with doubt, and this is what I’m told:
That living is in itself a constant celebration of love
And where there is love, we will live on,
And where there is not love, we must provide it.
Peace is not for purchase, it’s a state of being.
Exercise the responsibility of freedom.
We are prisoners of freedom.
Age doesn’t change the person within. It is the person within that changes with age.
Death should not be a way of life, it is only part of it.
Letting go is the only thing we will never understand.
The only fun that must be had is too much.
People need people.
Enjoy all of it, always, and remember that all you have is special.
Love doesn’t leave when we fade away.
All across the world we travel wayward for in search of things to hold.
And in the end we will spend
The weight of dreams in gold.
With every word the moment starts to feel more real and the energy only grows higher. As he delivers the tour tagline, the band behind the curtain starts the opening song, and anxiety and excitement build. The beat kicks in, and the curtain is dropped in an explosive moment of screams and ecstasy. There they are, the band people traveled all across the country for, the band people set up camp outside all day for. It is the moment that people will go home and tell all their friends about.
Well, that’s how it’s supposed to go. Fans who attended the Saginaw show got something a bit different, but still every bit as exciting. Everything went off without a hitch; Josh’s voice filled the arena, energy was high, everything was exactly how it was intended, until the intro audio suddenly cut out. I’ve never heard such a collective exclamation from a crowd until that night. I don’t think there was a soul in the room who didn’t react. But Greta Van Fleet being Greta Van Fleet didn’t miss a beat, starting up Heat Above anyway, with Josh addressing us live from behind the curtain.
“I love a good intro, but sometimes we’re edging too much. We gotta get this damn curtain down and do the thing, man!”
Turning a misfire into a cool story to tell your friends who weren’t at the show is something Greta Van Fleet excel at, and by the end of the night, missing that show intro was almost completely forgotten.
No band has ever had the emotional impact on me that Greta Van Fleet has had, and I’ve never been so affected by a live show as I was on this chilly Michigan night. The show in Saginaw was my fifth Greta Van Fleet show and by far the most cathartic. It was a beautiful night of tears and screams and release. What I’ll never get over is Josh standing on that stage talking about release, as though he knew just how impactful this night was for me. Clearly I wasn’t alone in my need for the cathartic release this show provided.
I found myself connecting with songs in ways I hadn’t previously, and I found myself in tears more often than I usually do at GVF shows. They have a way of breaking down those walls and situating themselves comfortably in the hearts of their audience, and their live show is where this is felt especially. A GVF live show for a GVF superfan is like finally coming home after one of the hardest weeks of your life. There’s a relief and release to the experience of their music washing over you that few other bands could even hope to recreate.
Their Saginaw setlist was identical to their second night in LA on last year’s Strange Horizons tour, which was especially a treat for those of us in the crowd who didn’t find ourselves in LA but did find ourselves endlessly envious of the show they received. The highlight for my friend group? Lover, Leaver, Taker, Believer, in its nearly 30-minute glory, and all the fun intertwined throughout. In fact, there exists a very unfortunate video in which you can hear my full-throttle screams when they launched into their That’s All Right cover smack dab in the middle of the magic.
Greta Van Fleet balance their setlists perfectly, switching them up show-by-show to ensure that every city gets a different show (those of us who travel to multiple shows on a single tour appreciate that too!), and creating the ideal blend of both their older and newer catalogue, with all of their full-length releases represented. There’s good reason for them to make sure everything is represented fairly: fans know the words to every single song, and in almost every video you’ll find from Saginaw you can hear the roar of the crowd singing every note almost as loud as Josh.
Dreams in Gold feels like Strange Horizons’ older brother. The stage setup is similar, but bigger. Thus far, the setlists appear to match those from the four Strange Horizons cities. It’s evident that Dreams in Gold is a continuation and not an abandonment. It’s bigger, it’s more dramatic, it’s somehow even more energetic, there’s fire – it’s a production, but it doesn’t take away from the music. Their music is cinematic, and it’s meant to be listened to loud. The production they have created honors and showcases that in a beautiful, hypnotic way. Despite having been several rows back in the pit, I wasn’t distracted by the people around me. I was borderline physically incapable of looking away from that stage. They had control over every pair of eyes in that room in a way that only they could. It was like we were in another world.
If I’m being honest, what was most special about this show, above all else, was how all of my friends and I walked away feeling fulfilled and renewed. I journeyed up to Michigan to meet up with my friends from the Midwest, the South, and New England who all found ourselves in the same group chat last summer. It was the first time we were all six meeting as a cohesive group in person, and it was GVF who brought us together in the first place. We found ourselves split off as the show began, some of us in the back of the pit and others together closer to the middle of the pit, but somehow it still felt like we all spent the night side by side. There wasn’t a single one of us who walked away from that show feeling sad; we were all on the same high. So much laughter and love was shared in the Dow Event Center lobby, and it’s something I’ll never forget.
There’s still so much more Dreams in Gold to come. Due to illness postponing the remainder of the spring shows, Dreams in Gold will continue starting in May in South America, with a plethora of European and US dates taking place in the summer and fall. If you’ve ever given an ounce of thought to seeing these guys live, let this be the push you need to finally buy the tickets. Take it from me, I’m five shows deep, and I’m not stopping any time soon.
“All across the world we travel wayward for in search of things to hold, and in the end, we will spend the weight of dreams in gold.” Though we didn’t get to hear this line in its entirety, it still takes me right back to the pit floor, moments before that curtain dropped, and it gives me chills.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The BANDED team wishes Jake and the rest of the GVF crew a healthy, safe, and quick recovery! We’re look forward to your valiant return to the stage!