PASSENGER | LIVE REVIEW
Festival Of Voice, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 14 June
Michael Rosenberg, known to most as Passenger, is one of the undeniable heavyweights of contemporary indie-folk music. Other than perhaps long-term pal Ed Sheeran, no other living artist has taken the scruffy white guy with acoustic guitar formula to such global heights – we’re talking billions of streams, sellout continental tours, and more headline slots than there are covers of Fast Car on Youtube. Tonight’s seated audience at Wales Millennium Centre’s Donald Gordon Theatre must feel small by comparison; though as Rosenberg himself says, the atmosphere is a nice change from the summer’s boozier festival crowds.
Passenger cuts a lonely figure on the empty stage, cast in shadow by the theatre’s superb lighting. It’s just the right blend of moody and minimal for the melancholic tale of opening track Rolling Stone. The guitar around Rosenberg’s neck is the only instrument of the entire set, the snap of his heel the only percussion. Support act Stu Larsen returns to provide backing vocals for the feather-soft Heart’s On Fire, but otherwise it’s a refreshingly unembellished performance.
The emphasis of Passenger’s music has always been on story rather than spectacle. Many of tonight’s songs are prefaced with touching (and sweary) accounts of the real-life people who inspired them; David is a homeless man Rosenberg met outside a hostel, while Riding To New York was inspired by a terminally ill man biking across America. We’re also treated to a rare live outing of And I Love Her, a cutesy love ballad about an old girlfriend from Wales.
The biting lyrics of I Hate definitely veer into the realm of pandering (targets include X Factor, racist blokes, and Donald Trump), but Rosenberg wraps the whole thing up with such charm that it’s hard to resist his request to stand and shout the chorus. By the time the encore rolls around, he doesn’t even need to ask. “You’re the perfect crowd! Perfect!” he shouts, with genuine joy on his face. The applause lasts long after he’s left the stage. Michael, the feeling is mutual.
words and photos JASPER WILKINS