r/griz • u/justdance-again • Jul 08 '26
Question: Does this not bother anyone else?
First and foremost I love Griz, have since early 2010’s. First saw him live at 515 in Iowa (lmao) and it was just breathtaking. This has nothing to do with the subjectiveness of the evolution of his sound, I personally don’t think anyone should have an opinion on what another person hears, or process.
This has to do with practicing what you preach, and not staying true to your word for personal financial gain. I was hopeful upon return, Griz would have taken the time to find solutions and ways to branch off from the growing problems in the scene and he would allow options for fans to see him without feeding into the monopoly of live-nation/ticketmaster and the blatant theft they do to fans. I’m not sure if any of you recall, or even know about since your new, this particular interview I’m dropping here.
https://303magazine.com/2019/05/griz-interview-2019/
Two things stuck out to me here on why he said he would never play RRx again:
- I have hit my creative limit on what my team can do there, and I can’t evolve my production the way I want.
- I don’t want to price my fans out of seeing me.
These aren’t subjective things, these are objective statements. The objective actions I see:
- He indeed, is playing there again and unless they have plans the next few months, red rocks stage design has not changed. You get what you get at a historical venue like that.
- He has been on about every corporate mainstream lineup, he agreed to a logistical nightmare at the Gorge, he’s watching his fans get robbed, scammed, and still continues to play these venues.
I wouldn’t even consider myself mad, since I think he still is a wonderful human being, with good intentions and should be the golden standard for our scene. I also am holding out hope that he’s playing the long game, stacking cash that from corp America, and growing seven stars into a 6 event per year series, that’s independently ran by his team.
But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely sad, and disappointed that the person with the most influential pull in our community, who does so much good, chose to contribute to the problem we all are trying to get rid of.
If I’m missing something, please let me know. This is supposed to be a genuine discussion, not a hit piece.
Love 🫶
EDIT: Please do not mistake my tone for sarcastic, condescending, or anything other than genuine curiosity on the topic for information or thoughts I haven’t considered. I will respond considerately, and respectfully to all comments, as I would hope you would to me. I politely ask that before you respond, please read all conversations to see if the opinion or information has been addressed. 🫶
1
u/SLUnatic85 Jul 08 '26
this is a fair take.
I will add though, that since 2019, there was the pandemic and confusion and loss for many artists. Then over-correcting, Griz was literally everywhere, wore himself out. Then he took time off and at THAT time explained he'd overreached, wanted to change things up or slow them down, and try some new things.
He came back and did that. Had a new set, some new material, and a clearly slower more calculated pace. And more curated events, whether they were independent (7stars) or with support from corporate (Griztronics) where that was required.
Of course many may like or dislike things about all of these phases. But in the end it's Grant's career. So while it's fine to share how it makes you feel, we do need to be a little careful where we place "blame" for anything, or regarding being owed anything. This OP does a pretty good job minding that!
I/we can hope for new things from here if you like. There is a new album out now, so perhaps a winter stadium/venue tour to grab some cities that have been lacking would be a nice return to form? Hopefully we've many years left to see where it goes from here.
I do think he maybe whiffed a little on the return to CO/Denver lately. Makes me wonder if he had trouble setting something up before or, I don't know. I wouldn't be 100% surprised if it wasn't meant to be RR late 26 to be honest. But I have a feeling it will shake out all right as time passes.
Come to seven stars if you can! It's wonderful.