Concert Review & Pictures: Passenger @ Volkshaus, Zurich 18.09.2018

I finally got to see Passenger live again. It felt like an eternity since seeing him last. His concert at Volkshaus was entirely sold out – I totally get why. The first time I got to see Passenger was way back when he was opening for Ed Sheeran at Kaufleuten. This was ages ago and a lot has changed for both of these artists.

Shortly after 8, the support act got on stage. Chris Simmons jumped in for Lucy Rose who should have been the opening act. Unfortunately, she had to cancel the rest of the tour. With Chris Simmons, we got to listen to another talented singer-songwriter. He has a few really catchy songs and somehow reminds me of Nick Howard a bit… The show has barely started and the temperature at Volkshaus seemed to go up by the minute. For some this was too much already, I’ve witnessed a passed out girl being carried out of the venue. For a second it felt like I was back in the 90’s – the deafening screaming and Take That were the only thing missing 😉

Concert Pictures: Chris Simmons

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We’re ready for Passenger!

Mike, better known as Passenger took the stage a little after 9pm. It was just him and his guitar. No big show or dancers or anything – just a guy, his instrument and a few lights. That’s it. Every single time a set up like this impresses me more and more… It didn’t take Passenger long to win over the audience, some of his die hard fans were singing along to every single song. What was even more impressive, there was hardly any chatter otherwise. I have rarely seen an audience this silent – apart from the actual singing along – and respectful. This was noticed by Mike as well, he mentioned a few times that we “are perfect” – for once I was really proud of my country 🙂

I absolutely loved Passengers version of Simon & Garfunkels „The Sound of Silence“ – I love the original song, so covers usually don’t have it easy with me, but this one was gold! One of the highlights for some of the longtime fans was certainly the older songs like “Table for One”. Rahel, my concert buddy, friend and writer for Bäckstage mentioned that he hasn’t sang many old songs recently. So for her – one of those long time fans – it was great to finally hear one of these songs live. I have to admit, I didn’t know this one, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every bit of it! Of course, he also played a couple of his newer songs – where I finally was able to sing along to as well 😉

When you just want to listen to what the artist has to say

In between the songs, Mike shared some stories with us. One that stuck with me was about this girl that had to sneeze during a show (that was just as quiet as this on apparently) in Canada. Mike happened to look at this girl right at that moment (which was I think terrifying for both of them – but different reasons ;-)) when she was about to sneeze. Not wanting to interrupt the show, she like sneezed internally (is that how you say it?) which made Passenger hope that her eyes wouldn’t pop out – I’m sure we all know that feeling when you try to hold back a sneeze and then it feels like your brain is coming out your nose or yeah, your eyes pop out :-D. The message after that was quite clear, let it out, you don’t have to be quiet all the time… I wish every concert would be like that though, I get annoyed at almost every show because so many people think they need to tell others about their latest tinder date or how their workday went… Not sure if maybe the song “I Hate” had something to do with the silence 😉 There’s this one lyric that makes me smile and that most of the people literally were screaming out: „I hate ignorant folks, who pay money to see gigs, and talk through every fucking song“. Btw, the rest of the song is pretty awesome to, go have a listen 🙂  During the last couple of songs even the people up on the seats stood up and danced a little while clapping. The beginning of the soon to come ending of the show was definitely “Let Her Go” where even the very last person in the room was singing along. Passenger ended his set with one of my favorite songs “Holes” <3

All in all, it was a really great evening. The set could have been a bit longer for my taste, but I enjoyed it anyways. Even though I do know what to expect from a Passenger show, it surprises me how this guy can stand up there, entertain a huge audience, come across as the humble and likeable guy he is and seem super cool at the same time. Well, Mr. Passenger – I will be back (and at the same time I’m angry at myself for not having gone to any of the other shows before this).

Concert Pictures: Passenger at Volkshaus Zürich

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