Live Review: Passenger, Winterbourne

Armed with two guitars, two voices, and one pair of what look to be pyjama pants, Sydney duo Winterbourne takes to the stage with a quiet confidence. From the beginning, they're perfectly in sync, not only rhythmically and harmonically, but also on a personal level. They fill gaps and silences with witty, playful banter, and effortlessly entertain the crowd in the process. With the help of a pedal, Better champions the power of dynamics, moving from delicate strumming to thick chords and full-bodied voices and back again. 

The only disappointment comes during their first acoustic tune, with the effort of straining to hear the song over the crowd’s murmuring proving futile. In contrast, their second acoustic duet, a cover of The Everly Brothers’ Bye Bye Love, quickly becomes a set highlight. The crowd joined in singing the familiar words and laughed along with any mistakes.

Passenger’s entrance to the stage can only be described as anticlimactic in the best way. He carries himself, his guitar, and his mug of tea with the warmth of an old friend. An understated performance of Fairytales & Firesides sets the tone for the performance, and the silent rapture felt during the final few bars went on to last for most of the hour-long show.

David, a song written about a man in a hostel, is already a set highlight, characterised by lyrics with an emotional sting and effortlessly delicate guitar licks. The contrasting strength of Mike Rosenberg’s full-bodied voice against his quiet rasp occasionally eclipses the smaller details, but above all, it's his personable nature which keeps the crowd enthralled. Balancing the personas of “serious musician” with “light-hearted comic” is no easy feat, but he manages to interject quips into many of the songs without ever losing face. 

Brisbane shows ample appreciation for old favourites and recent tracks alike. Life’s For The Living spreads an infectious smile around the room, while even recent tracks like Hell Or High Water inspires a crowd singalong if only to break up the intensity of near silence. The musical narrative of To Be Free, written about the struggle of Rosenberg’s refugee grandparents, completes the spectrum of emotion one can hope to experience through live music. He proves himself a natural storyteller, and somehow the crowd never tires of the lengthy descriptions between tunes.

The silence was telling during Rosenberg’s Simon and Garfunkel cover, with not a single note out of place. Complete with passionate guitar riffs, It's a turning point in the set, followed by the long-awaited anthem of abhorrence, I Hate. The room swells with joy at the singalong, so much so that stone-faced security guards look almost out of place. 

The segue between Rosenberg’s brand new song Suzanne and his best-known track, Let Her Go is as seamless as they come, and the performance that follows is just as subdued and graceful as those before it. The final song, Scare Away The Dark, is true activist’s anthem, traversing everything from social injustice to dying marine life in a few minutes. So effective it was that as soon as it ends, the crowd went on singing its melody until Rosenberg resurfaced for an encore. The resulting cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark constitutes yet another beautiful blend of singalong choruses and reverent verses, and, as expected, he leaves Brisbane salivating for more.