Greta Van Fleet Rocked Hard During ‘Saturday Night Live’ Debut


Rising rock band Greta Van Fleet was the musical guest on the January 19 episode of Saturday Night Live, and their two awesome hard-rocking performances definitely left an impression on television viewers.

This was just the second national TV appearance for the young four-member group from Frankenmuth, Michigan. On July 26, 2018, they performed the song “When the Curtain Falls” on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which is a program that is taped and edited before it hits the air.

SNL, meanwhile, airs live on the East Coast, and the guys in Greta Van Fleet — 22-year-old twin brothers Josh (vocals) and Jake (guitars) Kiszka, their 19-year-old brother Sam Kiszka (bass/keyboards), and their 19-year-old friend Danny Wagner (drums) — didn’t appear nervous at all as they took center stage twice, performing “Black Smoke Rising” and “You’re the One.”

Uproxx called the live rendition of “Black Smoke Rising” “fiery,” but said that the song choice was “interesting” because it is from the quartet’s debut EP, also called Black Smoke Rising, which came out back in 2017.

“The Kiszka brothers (and drummer Danny Wagner) gave their best tribute to shaggy-haired rock music of the ’70s. For those that had only heard of Greta Van Fleet before tonight, seeing them in their vintage fashion was just the introduction that could have earned them a host of new fans.”

In another story, Uproxx praised the band’s performance of “You’re the One.” The tune is the second single off of Greta Van Fleet’s first full-length album, 2018’s Anthem of the Peaceful Army.

“Hearing rock music so guitar-centric and unabashedly retro is a rarity in pop culture these days, but Greta Van Fleet are proving that the form still has a place in the mainstream,” Uproxx stated.

Hollywood Life said the band “slayed,” “brought down the house,” and “absolutely killed” on Saturday Night Live.

Watch Greta Van Fleet’s two Saturday Night Live performances below.

The band, often referred to as “rock revivalists,” recently scored four nominations for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Best Rock Song (“Black Smoke Rising”), Best Rock Performance (“Highway Tune”), and Best Rock Album (From the Fires). They will find out on Sunday, February 10, if they won or not.

First, though, Greta Van Fleet is heading over to Japan and Australia from January 22 until February 6 for the first dates of their “March of the Peaceful Army” world tour.

They’ll head back out on February 22 for concerts throughout Europe and South America, and starting May 7, they’ll hit the road in North America.

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