Passenger is a singer-songwriter who played a show in Vienna all the way back in October (good grief, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with my reviews…). He was accompanied by The Once, a Canadian folk band.

I didn’t know The Once before that evening and my first impression was that they were kind of boring – slow songs that sounded rather similar, not exactly the perfect way to warm up the audience. But after a couple of songs they found their footing. Suddenly their songs became stronger and more engaging and towards the end, I was really taken by their song The Town Where You Lived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIw4eJLJlzw

They probably won’t become my new favorte band, but at least I knew why they were chosen as the supporting act. And they have a pretty cool Elvis cover.

Then it was Passenger’s turn to play. He came on stage, basically apologizing that it was only him (and his guitar) and not an entire band as you might expect from the name. But honestly, who the hell needs an entire band when you got one single guy rocking out so hard? Because rock he seriously and truly does.

He really does bring an amazing amount of energy to the stage. And he manages to form a brilliant connection to the audience in a very short time, being funny and charming. Like so many folksy singer-songwriters, he is a born storyteller and when you listen to him tell stories about the songs he is about to perform, you get a whole new understanding for them sometimes. Sometimes they’re just funny.

But he definitely uses that ability to his advantage and I have rarely seen a concert audience so much under the control of a musician on stage. [Seriously, the police could learn crowd control measures from him.] When he wanted us to sing, we sang. When he wanted us to be quiet and emotional, we were quiet and emotional. I even shed a tear or two during Riding to New York (which he segued beautifully into a Sound of Silence Cover).

But most of his songs are just fun. They’re fun to listen to and fun to sing along, especially in a big crowd.

Add to that a very simple, but effective way of nice graphics as his stage design and the generally good music and the entire evening becomes a complete treat – one that could have gone on much, much longer if you ask me.

Summarizing: a completely satisfying concert experience.