Greta Van Fleet’s Audience Used to Be Old Dudes in Zeppelin Shirts. Something Changed

The Nashville-based rock band now has a noticeably younger base. “There were these kids hearing that music for the first time,” says singer Josh Kiszka When Greta Van Fleet played their first major shows in Nashville in 2017, at the now-defunct Mercy Lounge, the audience skewed heavily male, older, and classic rock. Led Zeppelin T-shirts were ubiquitous. But when the Michigan group headlined Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in 2023, a sea change had seemingly occurred: fans were younger, wearing sequins and glitter, and, in some cases, waving tiny rainbow flags. Greta Van Fleet’s lead singer, Josh Kiszka, says the band noticed it firsthand from the stage. He chalks it up, in part, to the members’ own ages — they’re all 30, or just shy of — and their embrace of timeless rock & roll. “Our reach became much further and there were these kids hearing that music for the first time and seeing people their age playing that music. ‘Oh, this is mine? This is part of my culture too,’” Kiszka tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast. “Rock & roll is very eclectic and elastic and all encompassing. I think that’s a testament to the music and the message, but also it’s still so relevant.” Kiszka moved to Nashville with his guitarist brother Jake Kiszka in 2020; their other brother Sam Kiszka, who plays bass, and drummer Daniel Wagner followed shortly after. Since then, they’ve become a vital part of Nashville’s rock scene and recently headlined three intimate club shows at the Basement East. The audience there, like at Bridgestone Arena, leaned younger, but Josh Kiszka, who publicly came out in June 2023, says it’s often a mix. “We noticed that in all of these bigger venues we’re playing, these kids, their parents, and their grandparents, in that order, from the front of the stage. We have generations going on,” he says. “And it didn’t matter where they were from, or their age difference, everybody was excited to be there.” Greta Van Fleet released their latest album Palace for the People in October. They’ll return to arenas in February when they kick off the Into the Beginning Tour. (The group pledged to sell all tickets at face value, plus fees. No platinum tickets will be available.) The shows hit venues like Barclays Center in Brooklyn, TD Garden in Boston, and Bridgestone in Nashville. There’s also a string of U.K. and European dates, including a May stop at London’s O2 Arena. Trending Stories Editor’s picks Watch the band’s full interview here. Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by deputy editor, head of country Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Shania Twain, Shaboozey, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Lainey Wilson, Sheryl Crow, Ashley McBryde, Brothers Osborne, Midland, Maggie Rose, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Kings of Leon, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, the Black Crowes, Braxton Keith, Carly Pearce, Amy Grant, Luke Grimes, Brandon Lake, Breland, Bryan Andrews, Noeline Hofmann, Adam Mac, Aaron Raitiere, Devon Gilfillian, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Michaela Anne, Ink, Ne-Yo, Rival Sons’ Jay Buchanan, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, Clever, Love on the Spectrum’s Tyler White, Willie Nelson scholar John Spong, and authors Marissa R. Moss, Josh Crutchmer, Mark Gray, and Jonathan Bernstein.