English singer-songwriter Passenger brought the second-to-last stop on his latest tour to San Francisco earlier this month.
The long-awaited tour was originally scheduled for 2020 and faced postponement after postponement. That didn’t discourage the San Francisco crowd, who showed up in force at The Fillmore. The set began with impassioned “Survivors,” and bittersweet “Life’s for the Living,” with both artist and audience singing together in a transcendent chorus. The veteran performer mentioned multiple times throughout the night just how special this show felt, in large part due to the infectious energy from the crowd itself.
Mike Rosenberg, who performs as Passenger, started his career in music with years of busking, leaving him with a truly excellent command of the stage. Years of performing with nothing but his guitar on the street means that Rosenberg’s vocals, stage presence, and crowd work are all incredibly strong. Bringing with him the classic self-deprecating British humor, Rosenberg frequently poked fun at the often depressing nature of songs. He quipped, “I’m probably the only singer-songwriter going around the world spreading hate,” before launching into biting social commentary of “I Hate.” His sense of humor and ease on stage made the show feel less like a concert and more like a gathering of friends.
With nearly 15 records, a spot on Passenger’s setlist becomes increasingly with each new tour. Rather than focusing his set on his latest album, Rosenberg’s setlist are a mix of songs from across his 10+ years of releases. In fact, only the autobiographical “Blink of an Eye” was featured from his latest release, “Birds That Flew and Ships that Sailed.” Of course, no Passenger setlist would be complete without “Let Her Go,” which brought the already enthralled audience to a crescendo.
Passenger is the rare kind of musician whose music takes on an entirely new form when performed live. The poetic acoustics of his albums unfurl when played to an audience, inhabiting a wholly unique space in which they seem to crackle with life. This was most notable in “Scare Away the Dark,” the last song before his encore. As the title suggests, the song urges its listener to “sing at the top of your voice, and love without fear in your heart” in hopes that “if we all light up, we can scare away the dark.”
Deeply moving lyrics on their own, these words were nothing short of rapturous when sung together in the packed venue as each audience member took them to heart. The song ends with a wordless call-and-response melody that rang out long after Rosenberg struck the final chord on his guitar. Several seconds after he left the stage, the audience organically resumed the melody until he returned for the encore.
Passenger in San Francisco
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