Recently much talked about singer-songwriter, Mike Rosenberg, more popularly known under the alias of ‘Passenger’, finally got his well deserved chance to shine after supporting Ed Sheeran at a number of dates during his recent tour.
With the enormous talent carried through ten years of songwriting for this soul-filled musician, now joined by massive international support, it was about time Passenger took the driver’s seat and conquered a number of sold out shows in his own name.
Opening the show in Dublin’s legendary Vicar Street was Belfast singer-songwriter, David C. Clements, who performed a powerful array of originals, clearly capturing a massive proportion of this sold out venue. Already popular with attendees at some of Ed’s tour dates, David received a massive response to his set, as more and more people piled in in anticipation for the sweet sounding, UK singer-songwriter set to grace the stage.
As Passenger casually strolled on stage, greeted by an eruption of screams and met by different items of clothing from every corner, he settled the crowd with a friendly chat, and a heartfelt story about his opening track- ‘David’. Slowly reducing the crowd to pure silence (as difficult as it was at the beginning) teasing out honest lyrics in a storytelling melody. Moving onto a more suited sing-song track- ‘Lifes For The Living’- the crowd threw their arms, lighters, and anything else that could be found, in the air in appreciation of this absolute raw talent.
A balanced set list of much older tracks, along with new ones was experimented with, requiring silence from a very hyped up crowd. Rekindling that perfect sound of a packed venue shouting such clever lyrics back at this intimately decorated stage, Passenger introduced ultimate crowd-favourite, ‘I Hate’. Fans residing in a comfortable spot towards the back, pushed their way up to the front to be part of this much awaited, fun song. Like children let loose in a playground, the fans, for three solid minutes, shouted every syllable of this humourous song back at the lyrical soldier who gave this performance his absolute life and soul.
The night was young, with many album-favourites yet to come, and so they did. Easing into the mellow sounding ‘Circles’, Passenger had every individual’s eyes locked on the stage. A quirky transition from this melodic Passenger sound into a chorus of ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ by Taylor Swift, had the venue on its feet and full of life. As if this wasn’t enough excitement for five minutes; the opening chords of current single, which brought international success to Passenger’s door- ‘Let Her Go’, sounded from the stage. Word perfect, the crowd sang this song in its entirety, completely drowning out any whisper from Passenger, as if their lives depended on it.
Departing the stage on lively, yet lyrically meaningful track- ‘27′, which Passenger executed with pure passion on that stage. The sound of this flawless, unique voice laying on top of an acoustic guitar and accompanied by a rhythmed clap from his adoring fans was something to witness. Leaving the stage only to be cheered back on a minute later to perform two encore tracks, the last of which should have only been expected. The final, and absolute stand-out song of the night was ‘All The Little Lights’ track- ‘Holes’, which encouraged one of the most heartwarming, powerful, united performances I have seen to date. The appreciation just reflected of Passenger’s face as “yeah we’ve got holes in our hearts, we got holes in our lives, well we got holes, we got holes, but we carry on” filled the venue from 1,500 voices. As this musical inspiration showcased his raw talent in the light of his utter enjoyment and comfort on stage, the only words that came to mind were “you’ve made it”- and he most definitely has.
Passenger’s latest single- ‘Let Her Go’: