Win a flight on the London Eye + a Fantastic River Cruise
Do not adjust your sets, op art is all about creating conundrums for your mind...
Gig review: Passenger Komedia, Brighton
review
A full house greeted Passenger - only to be expected for an upcoming band playing in their own backyard. Formerly the Mike Rosenberg band, they have built a loyal following in Brighton playing at a host of venues around the city. They are here tonight promoting their single Philadelphia, taken from their album Stray Dog. The group is brilliantly led by Mike Rosenberg and backed by the bafta award winning writer/producer Andrew Phillips.
The crowd loved Mike’s vocal delivery although annoyingly the tables, normerly scattered throughout the venue had been squashed at the front of the stage preventing people getting close and ulimately detracting from the atmosphere. Nevertheless the diminuitive figure of Mr Rosenberg continued to produce an entrancing performance borne on the back of skillfully written songs sympathetically delivered. You could see why they have been compared to the likes of Neil Young and Paul Simon - the songs are powerful, emotional ballads supported by tight acoustic arangements. The perfect sound is down to the fine muscianship of the band although amusingly a contraption that looked like it may be used by the teletubbies appeared at one point causing my muso friend to scratch his head. That aside the band have a great sound displaying an understanding and control over a range of instruments. Their style owes much to the traditions of folk, country and bluegrass. A mixture of Amercian and homespun inspired acoustic melodies are given a modern twist with subtle electronic overtones. Mike’s is a voice that does pull at the heart-strings and I couldn’t get away from the David Gray comparison even down to the physical delivery. It is a sound that could grate after a while but what shines through is an authentic love of the genre and tradition of the music.
