Live Review: Passenger

Michael Rosenberg, better known by his stage moniker Passenger, graced our shores earlier in the year for a number of concerts promoting his popular fourth album All The Little Lights. The shows were an intimate affair that not only endorsed Rosenberg's ability as a musician and showcased his aptitude as a songwriter, but also displayed his seemingly effortless charisma.
Fast-forward nine months and Passenger is back again, last night playing a sold out concert at the Enmore Theatre, the same venue Rosenberg played in April.
Opening with Fairytales And Firesides, Passenger integrated quieter B-sides between better-known tracks like Life's For the Living and I Hate, occasionally mixing in a cover or mash-up for good measure. Rosenberg has a flair for keeping the attention of his audience, whether it be through cheeky stage banter or by tweaking his songs to suit the crowd. His unplugged rendition of Blind Love stilled a very enthusiastic (and at times very vocal) crowd to inaudible levels. Similarly his foray from Daft Punk's Get Lucky to undeniably his most popular song Let Her Go successfully encouraged an all-audience sing-along, as did finale Holes.
Passenger has had a huge amount of success in Australia within the last year, and this tour was obviously a way of catching new fans that may not have necessarily known about him in March. It's a smart idea, and the concert was undoubtedly exciting and fresh for the great majority of the crowd. It is, however, unfortunate that Passenger hasn't tried to inject some diversity into the show. There's always the 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality but the show just seemed a little lacklustre and tired, even with a new song thrown into the mix here and there. It was a little too much lather, rinse, repeat and not enough spontaneity, which resulted in a good concert that could have been great.