GRETA VAN FLEET // O2 ACADEMY, GLASGOW
Greta Van Fleet return to Glasgow for their sold-out rescheduled show at O2 Academy
GRETA VAN FLEET PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S O2 ACADEMY - 06.11.2019
PICTURE BY: | PAUL STORR PHOTOGRAPHY
★★★★★ (5/5)
This was my third attempt to see Greta Van Fleet, a band I’d discovered at the beginning of last year. I had a review ticket for one of their shows in Manchester last year but ended up having to be in London, I also had a ticket with a friend for their recent Leeds show but life got in the way of that so it was with a lot of anticipation and also a degree of trepidation that I entered the O2 academy on Wednesday night.
If you don’t know the O2 Academy it’s one of the better venues in Glasgow once you get there, a decent size with good acoustics and, from what I could see, Greta Van Fleet had either sold it out or come pretty close. it was packed downstairs with a mostly male crowd that ranged in age from teenagers up to people in their 60’s, there were quite a few couples as well.
Greta has made an interesting choice for their support act, Yola, who is very definitely not a purveyor of the type of rock music that Greta trade in. There was a murmur of surprise within the crowd when Yola confidently strode out on to the stage, I suspect she was not who many of them would have expected to see in the support slot.
The choice of support act was more than vindicated, Yola has a tremendous voice and stage presence, she very quickly won a large section of the crowd over to the point when she left the stage there was a stronger than usual round of applause for a support act. This was my first time seeing Yola but I plan to make sure it’s not my last. I can best describe her as a mix of soul, funk, blues, country and the softer side of rock but that description doesn’t do what she did on that stage full justice. She was tremendous , her songs and voice deserve to be much more widely heard.
My own sense of anticipation, already quite high, had been heightened by the support act. Greta Van Fleet entered the stage about 30 minutes after Yola had vacated it. I had come expecting a seventies blues rock revival and got everything I expected and more.
From the vocals to the guitar shapes being thrown the whole thing was like a rock juggernaut. It’s hard to escape the Led Zeppelin comparison when talking about Greta Van Fleet, the vocals, even the wizard t-shirts in the merchandise suggest this is a band who love the early 70’s blues rock and are determined to bring their own spin to it while updating it for a new generation.
To say they succeeded is an understatement. This was a full on rock show, from the Robert Plantesque vocals to the massive riffs rolling out across the audience who clearly fully appreciated what they were seeing, clapping and singing along from the beginning of the gig unprompted. Even the light show felt like it had come straight from the rock playbook.
Greta came out on stage and went for the audiences jugular from the off with some blistering rock, it was as if they were trying to bludgeon everyone into submission. They would have succeeded had the audience not been so clearly loving what they were seeing. There was a more mellow section to the show which showed, when they want to, this is a band who have the ability to write more emotional and engaging songs. It was during this period that the bassist doubled up on the keyboards to give a different feel to the performance.
Clearly this more sensitive side could only be shown for so long and after a few songs it was back to the no messing full throttle blues rock. If I have one concern for Greta it’s that they will need to be careful, it would be easy for them to become a parody of early 70’s rock. It’s a line they are on the right side of just now but there were a couple of moments when they teetered a bit close to crossing that line, something I’m sure they are aware of themselves.
They are still a very young band, they clearly have a lot more to give and I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s next. If you like Led Zep, Free etc but want to find someone trying to put their own more modern twist on the genre then you really need to listen to Greta and, if you get a chance, go see them. I suspect they will be gracing festival stages across the country next year, if they are, and you want to rock, then go see them!
SETLIST: | GRETA VAN FLEET : O2 ACADEMY, GLASGOW - 06.11.2019
The Cold Wind
Highway Tune
Black Smoke Rising
The Music Is You - (John Denver cover)
You’re The One
Age of Man
Black Flag Exposition
Watching Over
When The Curtain Falls
ENCORE:
Flower Power
Watch Me - (Labi Siffre cover)
Safari Song