Energy Live Session: Passenger in Bern

I almost saw myself begging on my knees to somehow get a ticket. Somehow winning seemed not to work out. The last Energy Live Session I was able to attend, was over a year ago and by the way by Max Giesinger (read here). But in the end there was still a happy ending and I was able to participate at Energy Live Session of Passenger. At the end of this Friday night at Du Théâtre, I experienced even more than expected.

You never know

Well, I’ll see Passenger at Stars Of Sounds and will also be at the concert in Zurich on his fall tour. I had hoped for a street concert of him. During the last few days Passenger had been playing some in the UK and Germany. Unfortunately, he mentioned, that it has often been raining, like it already did 2 years ago in Bern. Have you been in Bern? Unfortunately I have missed it – work and so. That I could not see him live, was not the problem. But in such a small setting you rarely see Mike Rosenberg aka Passenger nowadays. So I was so happy to attend the showcase.

Directly after work, I was still too early on site. Going home was not really worth it and yes, you never know what will happen and who you might run into. Super spontaneous and unexpected actually such a “you never know” situation happened. I was allowed to attend the meet & greet!

Of course, I was totally unprepared at such a short notice. I had forgotten to print photos for autographs and the CDs were at home too. Never mind. I was looking forward to a hello and a short chat. And thanks to today’s technology, you always have a camera with you. 😉

It wasn’t much more than “Meet & Greet” and only a very short meeting. Quick hello to all five winners and then taking pictures quickly. But I got even an autograph then. Fortunately the manager had tour cards and a pen with him. I then was raving about the upcoming Stars Of Sounds and their great festival location. So the weather may be good and the festival organizers will hopefully do their best to ensure that I have not promised too much to him 😉 If there is the possibility of a street concert, I could not ask him anymore.

Album No. 10

1.5 hours later Passenger stood on the small mini stage of the Du Théatre. I thought the place was much bigger and was even more delighted with the nice, cute club in the middle of the city. As usual accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Passenger started the approximately 1-hour showcase with “Patient Love” from his hit album “Little Lights” (release: 2012), which brought him the breakthrough.

It was super hot in the club, Mike noted already at the welcome – oh yes, we were sweating. He then grinned cheekily that he actually had a fan in front of him. However, he should not let it run too strong, otherwise he would get a Bon Jovi hair-do ;).

Passenger is about to release his 10th album “Runaway” (release: 31.08.2018). Back then he started with street concerts and small clubs, with even less audience. So he always likes to play in such small clubs and was grateful for all the people, who have come.

He continued with the well-known “Life’s for the living” that was followed by “David”, a song about a homeless man. In addition to mostly older songs Passenger also presented two new songs from the upcoming album. The first song was the current single “Hell or High Water.” Second, he played “Ghost Town,” which is about the extinct residential areas of the US city of Detroit.

The hit: curse or blessing?

With his spontaneous, down-to-earth and likable nature, Passenger sings accompanied by the guitar about life and tells his stories about it. Of course, anyone who has already seen Passenger live knows him this way. Whether on a huge Gurtenfestival main stage or on this mini stage at “Düdü”, Passenger knows how to take and inspire his audience. He always seems friendly and to be the normal guy next door.

Passenger was happy about the attentive audience, who quietly listened to his words, but also gave comments at the right time. It often caused funny reactions and situations. There were always laughter from the audience in the ears. And when he asked, everybody liked to sing along too. “If you do not know the lyrics, just make something up!”, he encouraged.

Right after “Rolling Stone” his uber-hit “Let her go” followed, everyone immediately pricked their ears and cheered. That’s a new one too, he joked with some irony and hinted a little bit that such a hit can be just as curse as blessing. But if you let the audience sing on their own, it’s very nice and probably more blessings 🙂

With “Scare the dark away” Passenger concluded his short concert. But the audience cheered and sang him back on stage. After having to change his guitars in between, he laughed: “This is the third guitar in 45 minutes. So if this fails, then that’s it. ” The guitar survived, but “Dancing in the dark” by Bruce Springsteen was still the final song. 😉

Live in Switzerland

Passenger also seems to like Switzerland very much. In addition to the Caribana Festival the previous day, he will perform two more times in Switzerland this year. If you could not attend the showcase, you still have chances to see Passenger live this year:

On June 15, 2018 he is at Stars Of Sounds in Aarberg (tickets at Ticketcorner). On September 17, 2018 he on tour with his new album he comes to Volkshaus Zurich (tickets at Starticket).

You can find information about Passenger on passengermusic.com.
Information about the Energy Live Sessions on energy.ch

GALLERY