Greta Van Fleet Concert Review – Madison Square Garden 9/12/23

Photos & Review By Emily Rabeno

Greta Van Fleet is a rock band who started out in 2012. The band consists of four members: three brothers and one close friend. The singer is Josh Kiszka, main guitar is Jake Kiszka, bass as well as a piano player is Sam Kiszka last but not least on drums is Daniel Wagner. Jake and Josh happen to be twins and Sam is two years younger. The band is well known for their “TikTok hit” Light My Love. Their other most popular songs are “Highway Tune,” “Safari Song,” “Heat Above” and “Black Smoke Rising.”

I remember the first time I ever heard of Greta Van Fleet, I was on TikTok and this girl was asking people who was going to their New Hampshire show on October 10th, 2022. The creator asked other fans to help with a fan project to dedicate to a Greta Van Fleet fan who had just passed away due to cancer. The day after the show I saw the singer Josh Kiszka dedicating the whole show to the fan that passed. After that I became obsessed with the band. 

After this, I took a deep dive into their three albums From the Fires (2017), Anthem Of The Peaceful Army (2018) and The Battle at The Gardens Gate (2021). After constantly listening to Greta Van Fleet, I fell more in love with rock music and the band. After a few months, they announced their fourth album Starcatcher, and not soon after they announced their Starcatcher tour. 

I attended their September 12, 2023 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show opened up with the band Surf Curse, which I sadly missed because I was running late to the show. When arriving at my seat the first thing I saw was a curtain with the symbol of their album on it.

Around 8:35 p.m., a track of violin played a small part of each song on the album At exactly 8:45 p.m. the curtain dropped and the band stood next to each other in a blue light. Seconds later, the band starts playing The Falling Sky, which then lead into songs Indigo Streak and Lover, Leaver. 

Then Daniel, the drummer, Jake, the lead guitarist, and Sam, the bass player, were left on stage playing their instruments while Josh went backstage for his first outfit change: a navy jumpsuit with stars.

After changing, he comes back to sing more of their songs. After a while Josh, Jake and Sam got off stage for Daniel’s drum solo, which lasted for about ten minutes while the three made their way to the B stage. The B stage was directly across the main stage for people in the back to be close to the band. They sang three songs on this stage and then made their way back to the main stage while handing out roses and saying hello to the fans.

Josh went backstage to change into a purple jumpsuit while Sam got time for a little solo, then started playing the next song for Josh to start singing as soon as he got on the stage. After this song, Josh went back to change into silver pants and a large white cloak to sing two more songs. Josh leaves to go backstage once again for Jake to play his guitar solo.

The number of times Josh changed outfits made the show even better because everyone got their own moment. This lasted about ten minutes, and in that ten minutes Jake decided to incorporate something Led Zeppelin did at MSG many years ago- Since Greta Van Fleet is compared to Led Zeppelin a lot Jake took his chance to put that in what he was playing.

For the encore, the first song was Light My love. During this song, MSG was lit up with rainbows. It was so magical and during the whole song I had chills. Finally, they sang Farewell For Now. Just before their final goodbye, Jake and Josh shared a long hug in front of everyone.

Going to this concert, I didn’t expect any of what I was about to see, but I left so happy and grateful to have gone. If you think you don’t fit the age range to love Greta Van Fleet, you definitely are. From young kids, to older men and women, everyone dressed up having such a fun time with everyone around them.