Hi Thinking out loud here :D
today's blog I have been so excited to write I feel like this is going to be the easiest blog to write to date so here we go.
As I'm sure you are aware I had my birthday on the 5th August and I turned 21, and one of my friends gave me two tickets to see Passenger (Michael Rosenberg) for a little concert before he comes back in January to tour.
So on Monday another friend and I went to see him. Let me just say this he is amazing and through every song unless he had asked us to sing the whole room was silent, I feel like you know a musician is really good if they are able to keep a room as quiet as it was with everyone so captivated by his songs, voice and guitar playing.
The night started with my dad and I picking my friend up from the bus so we could go to the next town to catch the bus into the city. My friend and I thought we had missed the bus but we bet it to the stop with a couple of minutes to spare, giving us chance to say hi to another friend who was just getting off the same bus we were getting on. It took us a little over half an hour to get into the city which I was surprised by as it normally takes an hour by bus, having said that we did take an express bus which doesn't take as long as it normally would had we been going on a normal bus, plus the time of day we were heading down meant not many people would be getting on.
We made it into the city with a little under an hour so instead of taking another bus which we had previously said we would do, we decided to walk which I'm so glad we did as it only took us about fifteen minutes had we taken the bus it would have taken closer to five meaning we would have been far too early as doors opened at seven and we got to the venue for about six twenty-five so we still had to wait. We sat at a table by some outdoor heaters to keep warm as if I'm honest I am like a human reptile seriously I can be freezing and everyone else around me can be warm, and my friend is like a human heater which is amazing for me if my hands are cold she just holds them and warms them for me and likewise if hers are too hot I hold them and cool them down for her. We sat and chatted about random things as you do as we watched people arrive.
We carried on waiting then made our way to line that was forming, some very kind girls who were in line before us had seen that we had been waiting longer than them so they let us go in front making us third in line, I'm so thankful they did that as by the time we had got to the line it was starting to get longer by the minute. We stayed waiting and my friend goes damn I feel like sushi the girl in front also said she had been wanting sushi then all three of us were like damn I want sushi no thanks to my friend. We had been waiting in the line for maybe five minutes if that when the doors were opened.
A guy came out and told us to have our own tickets so it made scanning them easier and then we had to also get a stamp on our right wrist. With us being third in line it didn't take long for us to be inside, we went and stood by the stage whilst others got food and drinks whilst waiting until eight for when Passenger came on. The hour consisted of us talking and laughing saying one of us should get up on stage and entertain everyone whilst we waited for him, needless to say, neither of us did. if one of us had done it would have been beyond embarrassing (it was, however, my idea kind of but I would never go through with it especially not in front of so many people.) My friend mentioned whether we should go and talk to people to be normal, as we are both shy in situations like this we don't normally talk to people we don't know unless we are with someone who does know them or who isn't shy around random people which we weren't so we stayed talking to each other in our comfort zones if I'm honest I thought she had gone a little crazy but it turned out she didn't want to talk to anyone either so our normal was resumed we had talked to people in the line but everyone pretty much kept themselves to themselves and who they were with.
At eight another guy came on stage introducing Passenger (not that he would ever need to be introduced to a crowd,) this is when everyone cheered as you do. I didn't take many photos or videos of Passenger performing but what I did take I will put up keep your eyes peeled I did this so I could enjoy being there and enjoy the experience of being in a small venue with about two hundred people if that.
There was a mixture of new and old songs including one which isn't on his new album (which is out on 23rd September) he just felt like playing it. for those of you who aren't familiar with Passengers songs there isn't very many that are happy, in fact, he played two happy songs within the hour he was on stage the rest well not so happy. Personally, I feel like his songs have more meaning and more emotion to them because they're not happy. The first song was kinda like a love song but then after he said he and this girl had since broken up not the best start to the night but like I said his songs aren't generally happy and neither are the back stories to them. The song had so much meaning and you could tell it was a hard song for him to sing given it's now about an ex. Passenger gave back stories to his songs including telling us that he had recorded some songs in a studio just down the road from where we were in Auckland.
Because we had been so quiet and no one was really drunk unlike at some of his gigs, he said he sometimes goes into the audience and performs a song he asked if that would be OK of course we all said yes so here is a photo of him in the crowd singing I don't think a lot of musicians these days would be able to do this without a microphone or speakers and still sound amazing I honestly think there is no one else quite like him music wise.
There is one song in particular that he played which if I'm honest struck a chord with me 'Riding to New York' off of his album Whispers, I didn't cry but my god was it hard stopping myself, here's the thing I'm the person who will cry at a song and openly admit it but I'm the annoying person won't and can't cry at a film or at least I haven't found a film that I've cried at yet, for me I feel the emotion in songs more than I do when it's being acted out on a screen. the reason why I felt so strongly pulled to this song than other songs is because of the back story he told, he met an old man 60/70 years old who was I think sat outside of a gas station and smoking at the time Michael (Passenger) was on his way to buy some cigarets when the old man starts talking to him, he sat down next to him and the guy says “this is the best cigarette I've ever had” and of course Michael is like what, the old man told him he'd just found out he had lung cancer from smoking since he was a kid. He'd bought a bike so he could ride to see his family and spend more time with them and ride out the last of his life.
It touched me because I have gone through the very same thing with a family member, for me it was like I was the granddaughter in the song only I made the journey back to England, it made me realise how similar people's lives are but most of all it reminded me of the trip I made and the not so happy memories that come with that trip, it made me see that what I went through I wasn't alone and that the feelings that go with it are normal it felt like the lyrics were describing what fourteen year old me went through. I haven't connected to a song so strongly before so much so to the point that the story behind it and the lyrics are still sticking.
I haven't seen a lot of live performances but Passenger is without a doubt the best one so far simply because of the talent he has, the songs he writes the emotion he puts into them and the fact that, that shows when he sings them. It's easy to see he can get lost in a song when he gets so into it then stops to say “I've messed up the carpet” in his adorably cute Brighton accent and straightens it out before carrying on with the song which happened when he played 'I hate' which he made us all sing along to as if we didn't then of course we would have been racist and we can't have him thinking that Aucklanders are racist, in this song he also swears a lot so if you are thinking of going and seeing him just keep in mind that he does swear a bit it wasn't just in this song it was when he'd stop and talk and in some other songs too just in case you want to take little ones and their ears aren't used to swear words.
Of course, he also played the song that got him to where he is now, to being able to do what he loves every day, that song being 'let her go' which has an astounding 1 billion plus views on YouTube. I find it amazing that a guy who started out busking is now living a life so many people dream about living. I actually said to my friend after that watching him makes me want to be able to perform but I know I would be a bag of nervous so I think I'll stick to singing in my bedroom and writing songs that might one day be out in public but who knows. He still goes out and buscks not because he has to but because he wants to as why should he stop when that's where he started I like that it gives people who wouldn't be able to see him a chance to see him perform, it's safe to say after Mondays gig I will definitely be seeing him again and buying his album when it comes out in September.
Given his new single came out last week here is a link to the video Passengers new single Anywhere which you should all give some love, let's see if we can get it to a million views as it deserves a million plus views. I love this song and I'm sure you will love it as much as I do. If you haven't seen Passenger perform live I recommend you do as it is way better than any video or any type of recording.
I'd like to finish with a massive thank you to Passenger (Michael) for being so amazing and a massive thank you to iheartradio and 2degrees who organised the gig and made it possible and another big thank you to my friend who gave me the tickets, all in all, I think its safe to say both my friend and I had a good night and I have refound my love for Passenger and his songs after awhile of having no listened to them.
And finally I lied at the beginning I said it would be easy to write this blog post in some ways it was and others it wasn't as my brain wanted to write everything at once which isn't humanly possible to do, it was, however, my favourite blog post to write and with the help of Passengers songs it isn't hard to see why. so I leave you with some more pictures that I took.
Here is the stamp we had to get on our wrist
I took this one just before he came on stage
yes that is a guitar with a fork as the head
as it's meant to be a tuning fork
hence the name of where we were
this one I took not long after he had
been on stage and yes this is how
close we were to him and no we
didn't touch him that would have
been weird on every kind of level
another one from when he came down
into the audience to perform a song
This one I took just after he left the stage
as I wasn't quick enough on opening my camera to get a final picture of him.
Now this one I obviously didn't take, but try and guess where it's from. I love how he can go from doing a normal face to pulling this face.
As always hope you enjoyed today's blog even with it being a day late I did start it yesterday just never got round to finishing it but I have without a doubt enjoyed writing it I hope you have a very lovely end to your week. Thanks again to Passenger and his song's for being my entertainment whilst writing this blog. Sorry its so long as I'm looking at the bottom of my page it's eight pages long so if you got this far well done and thank you for reading, next weeks won't be as long, I hope.
Love always Thinking out loud xx :D
P.S. A big congratulations to my little cousin who got exam results back from college today proud isn't even the right word but it's the only word I can think of, because she has worked so hard and has made me a very proud big cousin and I love her very much and wish I could be with her to celebrate such an amazing achievement, I won't put what she got as that's up to her to post her results I just wanted to say how proud she makes me feel.
