Leading up to his decision to come out during Pride Month this year, Josh Kiszka was worried he’d have “a target on my back” once people knew he was part of the LGBTQ community. Instead, the Greta Van Fleet frontman tells Rolling Stone, fans embraced him even more passionately.
“Everything had been met with love and acceptance and humility and respect, and that was a huge wave of reassurance that things are moving in the right direction,” he reflected to the publication. “As a performer and as an entertainer, a huge weight was lifted. Because ultimately as an artist or just as a person, we all want to be understood to some degree.”
Kiszka was motivated to publicize his eight-year “loving, same-sex relationship” in a June Instagram post after Tennessee lawmakers introduced a bevy of laws targeting gay and transgender people — something he likened to “a f–king dystopian kind of reality” to Rolling Stone. A month later, at Greta Van Fleet’s kickoff show in Nashville for the band’s Starcatcher World Tour, Kiszka found himself looking into a sea of fans holding up coordinated colored paper over their cameras, collectively forming the image of a rainbow.
“The fact that that many people could communicate and coordinate to make that happen was extraordinary,” he recalled. “It was really difficult for me to keep it together.”
Following the release of their July album Starcatcher, Kiszka and bandmates Jake Kiszka, Sam Kiszka –the three are also brothers — and Danny Wagner earned their third No. 1 placement on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart. The band is currently booked to tour through September 2024, per their website, closing out with a pair of shows in Mexico City.
But wherever they are, Kiszka says fans can count on their shows being inclusive spaces for everyone. “I heard something from this girl that made me feel really great,” he added. “She said, ‘I always felt very comfortable as a member of the LGBTQIA+ communities at Greta Van Fleet shows, and this makes it even more obvious that it’s a very safe place for all people to come together and celebrate.’ That’s such a beautiful thing to hear.”
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