Live Review: Passenger, The Once

Canadian folk trio The Once delight early arrivals to Palais Theatre with their vivacious character and lively acoustic instrumentation. Lead vocalist Geraldine Hollett exudes happiness with her contagious smile and quickly captures attention with her radiant vocals and glowing harmonies.

After a perfectly suited prelude, Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg) takes centre stage and immediately lightens the mood by showing off his comedic side with a few jokes. He pokes fun at his own skinny jeans and starts the set with some really depressing songs. The British singer-songwriter makes it clear that while many may have expected a full band they are going to get a solo performance, just him and his guitar. It’s obvious that this is more than enough for him to win over crowds as he engages with the audience. We are attentive and still in a heartbeat.

Rosenberg’s mesmerising voice projects through the large venue as he shares his storytelling through tender, melodic folk-rock music. As a humble and poetic artist, he reflects on his positive outlook and shares life lessons throughout Life’s For The Living. He shares his philosophies about appreciating each and every moment but apologises for his lyrical profanities. Rosenberg requests some audience participation for his bittersweet anthem I Hate, encouraging us to sing along if they agree with his quirky pet hates. He continues with Scare Away The Dark, requesting that everyone should put away mobile devices and just be in the moment to enjoy the music as he intended.

Being his Whispers Australian tour, Rosenberg performs music from his latest album of the same name. He shares a new song from the release, Riding To New York, which he explains was written about a year ago during his travels. His most successful single Let Her Go is delivered with passion and sincerity, Rosenberg feeling every word of the soft and fragile tune. He explains the song took only about 45 minutes to write, yet ultimately launched his worldwide career taking him to places he’d only ever dreamed of visiting.

The Once are welcomed back to the stage for an encore medley of classic covers including Van Morrison’ s Brown Eyed Girl and Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way before the finale: one more of Passenger’s own original, uplifting tunes titled Holes.