Greta Van Fleet (GVF) is a Michigan-native rock band consisting of three brothers and their long-time friend: vocalist Josh, guitarist Jake, bassist and keyboardist Sam Kiszka, and drummer Daniel Wagner. After Josh ruptured his eardrum during the 2022 “Dream In Gold” tour, the band rescheduled the remaining shows to 2023.

The final show of the tour landed the band at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center March 28.

Leading up to the last night of the era, Greta Van Fleet began publishing daily, cryptic social media posts (most notably Instagram stories) of a countdown adhering to the last show. 

Presenting an animation of a silver wax seal stamp that reads “I’ve been waiting for so long. It’s my time to go home,” the stories also include a link that directs the user to a pre-save page. The wax stamp has also been incorporated as GVF’s Spotify Canvas behind every song of their album works.

A variety of the story posts have included captions such as coordinates leading to Sacramento on the second, third, fourth day of the countdown, and a selected song lyric form tracks off of GVF’s second studio album, “The Battle at Garden’s Gate” (TBAGG) (2021). The posts omit the appearance of “Trip the Light Fantastic” which would have been day 11 on the countdown. 

Starting with seventh track ”Stardust Chords” and working in reverse through the album, the stories include captions that read seamlessly poetic when looking at them consecutively: “A renaissance born… The planet is still turning… Heading on a course for interstellar shore… Churning up the earth below… Out of silence we will sing… I have yet to wander… Ascending to the stars as one.” 

Around noon on the final day of the tour, Greta Van Fleet went to Instagram and posted a reel that plays through snippets of each track from “The Battle at Garden’s Gate” and a completely new riff included after the final track “The Weight of Dreams.” As white sand dunes are displayed as the image, the collage of songs transitions into the teased new track “Meeting the Master” which was performed at the Anaheim show just four days prior. 

Along with the already heavy conjecture just from the abundance of social media activity, fans were quick to screenshot a date that was accidentally leaked on the linked page. The date, July 24, was immediately removed and some fans on TikTok began to theorize about the significance of the date and its relation to the release of new music ― potentially a new album. 

The build up of heavy anticipation and theories from the accumulation of fan theories leading up to the final show of the tour, which we had the utmost pleasure of witnessing. Preceding March 28, fans all over the country have been talking about the final show and, with that, the city of Sacramento itself. 

As the rain ceased for the evening and a double rainbow appeared over the city, reality began to set in for the conclusion of the band’s golden era: “Dreams in Gold” ends at the Golden 1 Center.

Arriving at the venue, fans were seen in their best getups, a pallet of different vibes that are unique to each individual. Some audience members approached the event in a flower, dream-like ensemble while others looked to a more “rock show” aesthetic. No matter how dissimilar the outfits were, fans came together to experience an event of a life-time. 

Opening the show, Rival Sons provided an initial tone that laid further expectation and build-up to Greta Van Fleet’s emergence. Strong qualities were seen within all members of the band but most notably, their drummer Michael Miley, who was also seen in the studio with rock band Veruca Salt in 2004-2005. 

Like every other show on their tour, GVF opened their set by dropping the curtain with the fourth track “Built by Nations” from “TBAGG.” However, prior to their stage appearance, the lights at the venue went out and a low, ominous track began to crescendo, leading into Josh’s “Dreams In Gold” monologue. 

The show itself exceeded all expectations. The night was capped with overwhelming emotion of astonishment from the talents of the band, laughter from Josh’s commentary, tears and bewilderment from the more sensitive tracks, and created an overall dream-like state supported in the phantasmagorical experience.

Ending the tour with a bang, the Sac show saw the live debut of four new tracks respectively titled “The Falling Sky,” “Indigo Streak,” “Sacred the Tread,” and “Farewell for Now.” With the already known tracks from the group’s discography, the new additions received just as much praise and applause from the audience. 

The first new track performed especially stood out against the rest as Sam and Daniel joined Josh on the vocals, a rarity for their onstage productions. Josh also utilized a harmonica during “The Falling Sky” unlike his usual use of the tambourine as his instrument on other tracks. 

To bring the main set to a close, lights dimmed and zeroed on Josh as he voiced his thoughts and introduced “The Weight of Dreams” to the Sacramento stadium.   

“I’ve been calling this the thesis of the ‘Dreams In Gold’ circus,” Josh said. “Without giving it too much I’ll just leave it with you there and Jake, being the rock and roll Sherpa, will take us to the summit.”

Jake then initiates the ringing, opening notes with his staple Gibson guitar, ending the main set with a 17 minute version of “The Weight of Dreams” ― an additional eight minutes added to the track ― as Jake and his guitar are submerged in the limelight. Jake did indeed bring the entire auditorium to the summit with his elevated performance. 

Wagner was able to show up his musical capabilities with an elongated drum solo following one of their hit tracks “Safari Song.” The solo itself captured and maintained the audience’s attention, providing a strong intermission right before the rocking track of “Caravel.”

Sam showed off his expertise on both keyboard and bass interchangeably throughout the night with the impressive, nimble chords on the keys and later the suffocating baselines that shook the entire room.  

Josh was exceptionally amazing with his jaw-dropping sustained notes that were curated with stability and power. 

Being that it was the last show of the era, it’s no wonder why GVF went all out to create an everlasting experience that brought the tour to a close and will be carried by those who witnessed it in person and those watching from around the world.   

After playing “The Weight of Dreams,” the band left the stage and fans began to anticipate the inevitable encore. 

Finally returning to Golden 1’s stage, GVF opened the encore with the new track “Farewell For Now.” GVF then brought back the familiarity with the opening guitar riff of their biggest hit “Highway Tune.” The band ceased the track toward the middle and transitioned into the next section of the encore.

With their heavy influences deriving mostly from R&B, folk, classic rock, blues, Jake busted out a harmonica which led to a collaboration between Josh’s vocals and Jake’s harmonica. Battling back-and-forth and mimicking one another, the harmonica brought the blues’ transition into a cover of Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right.”

The live performance comes to its end with a reprised version of “Highway Tune.” Fans in the audience were seen losing their minds and completely consumed by the music. 

The setlist, as a whole, is unworldly: the release of four new tracks, phenomenal stage presence during each track, and the seamless transitions between each section.   

With Josh’s final parting words, a curtain dropped in front of the barricade, revealing the title for their next album, “Starcatcher.” 

As the night came to its bittersweet close, the Peaceful Army fanbase walked hand-in-hand with Greta Van Fleet, swan-diving into the “Starcatcher” era.