Greta Van Fleet is just a vehicle for Pinkpop’s ingenuity

When Pinkpop was still happening in Jilin, music was already being made. Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, The Kinks, Uriah Heep, those were some of the names. At least, that’s what I always heard when I raved about an early 2000s Pinkpop indie band with “The” on the lead and a guitarist with straight bangs. On the final day of the 2024 festival, nostalgic old-timers can immerse themselves in classic rock hits from Greta Van Fleet.

Photography Center Dautzenberg

Old cars? When you see the images of the front row on the video screen, there are a few gray heads. A lot of enthusiastic young people, wearing Greta Van Fleet T-shirts, seemed very hungry for an hour of good old-fashioned rock. The quartet begins that hour with a bang Falling sky. And when singer Josh Kishka opens his golden throat, we imagine ourselves for a moment at Woodstock. Or yes, Burgmeister Damenpark in Gelin.

The question is whether bands of the time also followed the rock and roll fashion style book. The three Kiszka brothers (in addition to Josh, there’s also guitarist Jake and bassist Sam) and drummer Danny Wagner are absolutely fantastic. Frontman Josh is one Rhinestone cowboyHis suit is covered in shiny stones. Only the hat is still missing. And Billy the Kid won’t be roaming the brothels either.

With Greta Van Fleet, everything is already looking promising. The whole image of the band is correct in terms of appearance and stage presence. The timbre of the music is also quite familiar The seventies. And damn, they’re also talented musicians. And Josh doesn’t miss a beat to let the loud sounds, much like Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, echo across the meadow.

But at this pace! Only eight songs in one hour. While on this first sub-tropical summer day you’re hoping to be hit hard by a rock band, you’re then treated to long, drawn-out songs with no head or tail for over fifty minutes. They are tools of artistry, not signature songs. Now most of the parade is conducted at the same slow walking pace as the pace of visitors making their way through the crowds on the festival grounds.

And then Josh will also distribute wide white roses during that Light my love. Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band once smashed a bunch of expensive baccarat roses with one fell swoop on the Pinkpop stage in Gelin. But if you also have your next song after this flower party Archer It stretches out with a guitar solo that seems to never end, and then you do it for the sake of it.

Note that with the lid on there is a bit of a pilot light in the pan. The band is playing That’s okay mama, made famous by Elvis Presley. These two and a half minutes are more real rock and roll than we saw in the previous hour from Greta Van Fleet’s virtuoso circus. “All I have is a red guitar, three strings and the truth,” Bob Dylan once sang. Sometimes that’s all you need in music.

Visible: Pinkpop 2024, Sunday (5.15pm) at the South Stage. is reading here All our reports from Pinkpop. Also available? Share your opinion and photos in the application Bites!.

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