Greta Van Fleet homecoming leads busy metro area music weekend – Oakland Press

Frankenmuth natives Greta Van Fleet will perform at Little Caesars Arena on Friday, Sept. 8. (Photo by Neil Krug)

Greta Van Fleet has been to Little Caesars Arena before — but never on stage.

The Grammy Award-winning rock quartet from Frankenmuth, which is now based in Nashville, makes its LCA debut on Friday, Sept. 8, a stop that “we’ve had our eyes set on for years” according to bassist-keyboardist Sam Kiszka. It also comes nearly five years after GVF’s last Detroit shows and in the wake of Ypsilanti and Flint concerts that were canceled twice each last year.

“We’re finally at the level where it makes sense to do the arena run, and it’s been really great,” says Kiszka, 24, who formed GVF with older brothers Josh and Jake Kiszka during 2012. The group, also including drummer Danny Wagner, has released three albums — including “Starcatcher” in June — and two EPs, and has scored eight Top 10 Mainstream Rock chart singles, five of which hit No. 1.

The group has also spent time opening stadium dates for Metallica during the past few years.

“I love playing arenas,” Kiszka continues. “It just creates the correct sound for rock ‘n’ roll music, or the type of rock ‘n’ roll music that we’re making. We’ve heard playbacks from (the concerts) and it’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s the way it’s supposed to sound.”

That’s particularly true of material from “Starcatcher,” which was produced by fellow Grammy-winner Dave Cobb and recorded at historic RCA Studio A in Nashville. The 10-song set – which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums charts — has a lean, more direct kind of immediacy than its predecessor, 2021’s “The Battle of Garden’s Gate,” though Kiszka says that wasn’t necessarily the intent when the band began recording.

“A lot of it was (recorded) live in the studio,” he explains, “and…most of what you hear is the first takes of what we were doing. So it was inherently a live-in-the studio kind of album, and that lends itself very well to the big stage.”

Greta Van Fleet and Surf Curse perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8 at Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.