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Writer's picturebethanyhildebrandt

Greta Van Fleet: Red Rocks Act III

Updated: Feb 27, 2021




This act definitely blew my mind. There’s a lot to comprehend for this one. The tracks performed include Black Flag Exposition, Watching Over and When The Curtain Falls.









“We’re gonna travel up the trail a little bit to more sinister-savage territory. Jake’s gonna be a rock ‘n’ roll sherpa and we’re gonna go into this darkness.” Truer words have never been spoken by Josh. If there is any track more dramatic than Age Of Man, it would have to be Black Flag Exposition. The track starts off with Jake doing what he does best: performing in ways you can’t even begin to imagine how he does it. The stage light is blue, the spotlight is on him, it’s his time to shine. Fans have been RAVING about this song ever since the first time they performed it at shows. In Atlanta, it was the most dramatic thing. Everything was so dark and mysterious. I remember feeling a sense of thrill, it was as if wind was rushing through my body. I remember the air was so cool and smoke filled the stage. I had no idea what was happening… But I liked it. By the time Sam and Danny come in with the bass and drums, it turns into a song you can’t help but move your body to. You can tell all three are into it as well. While smoke is still filling the stage, Josh runs back out on stage and is hyping the crowd up, as he always does. Josh sings, “We were close, there was no room.” The interesting thing about this track is that the music is theirs, however the lyrics are not. The lyrics come from a song from an artist by the name of Melanie, released in 1970. When you listen to that song, you can’t help but wonder why these lyrics for Black Flag? How do you take lyrics from a 1970s pop song and work it into your dramatic rock performance? But it works is the scary part. Then again, Josh does sing lyrics in the middle of songs all the time such as Here Comes The Sun, Feelin’ Groovy, etc. In the middle of the song, Jake breaks out into a full-blast melt-yours-mine-and-everyone's face off guitar solo and no words could ever describe how fantastic it is. Josh breaks out his tambourine, at some point Sam switched from bass to keys. A professionally-shot version of this song was much needed.







The band wastes no time and jumps straight into the next track, Watching Over. The scene is still dramatic, but with red lighting. A song about environmental issues. With lyrics such as “I wonder when we’ll realize this is what we’ve got left and it’s our demise” and “With the water rising and the air so thin, still the children smiling can we see no sin?”. The crowd of course knows this one by heart, as tons of people are to be seen jumping and screaming the lyrics.














The last song of Act III is of course fan-favorite, When The Curtain Falls. There’s so many memories when it comes to this song for me. Remembering when it was released, hearing it live for the first time and it was extremely loud, watching GVF perform it on Jimmy Fallon, remembering when the music video came out. This is my favorite song to hear Sammy on bass. The “do it Jakey” from Josh was missed by many, but that’s okay. We’ll let it slide. Josh saying “Goodbye, baby, goodbye” to the crowd seemed to be the perfect way to “end” the show. ;)








Looking forward to reviewing the final act, as it should be released very soon. Stay tuned!



*All photos are screenshots done by myself!*




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