Mitch James: Next Ed Sheeran brings a smile to New Zealand’s night watch

Hamburg. The world of pop is supposedly getting small. Trends from clubs in Africa, K-Pop groups from Korea, the next big thing from Nashville they all got here in no time and immersed themselves in the music. Despite this, New Zealand is clearly still far away. You can hardly go any further.

He also plays a singer and songwriter Mitch James From Auckland, platinum star at home after the successful albums “Mitch James” (2018) and “Patience” (2022), in Hamburg Night guard In front of 60 hand-counted visitors. This must have been a change for an artist who appeared in front of tens of thousands opening for Ed Sheeran.

Mitch James: Ed Sheeran School Acoustic Pop at Night Watch

But where there’s stage, there’s method on this The Long Road Home Tour. Like many of his generation, 27-year-old Mitch James started with the help of YouTube and social networking. There he combined his lessons to teach himself the guitar and the first to follow enjoyed the music videos on his cell phone. This is how New Zealand musician Malaa found him in 2016, who placed him with Sony Music.

“This is the first gig on my world tour, and it’s in Hamburg,” says Mitch James happily, giving the keyboard player a cue for an hour of Sheeran-style acoustic pop. The first round of applause conjures a smile from the Elbe to New Zealand. The songs, which James likes to spontaneously rewrite to Hamburg and are actually sung early on in the set, are simple but catchy with a sunny vibe, even “All The Ways To Say Goodbye” about losing loved ones on tour. Aaaw. “I flew 40 hours and you guys sing together, it’s great.”

Mitch James: Songs About Homelessness and His Sick Mother

Sparks fly between the singer and the audience, and the closeness of the basement club does the rest, not forgetting stories like the one about his homelessness in “No Fixed Abode,” a poignant story. When he sings a song about his mother who has cancer, the tears are real on and off stage – “My Mama And Me”. This is rarely beautiful, but it is rarely beautiful.

The “beautiful stranger” from the other end of the world has the club in his hands – and he has taken it to his heart. There’s a lot of laughter, too because snap chords are a running gag of the evening. You don’t want to let him go after his “last goodbye” in the form of the “Sunday Morning” encore, because who knows when he’ll be back. Incidentally, Ed Sheeran’s Kiez debut, in 2011 at the East Hotel at the Reeperbahn festival, was attended by no more than 60 people.

Wed, 05/17/2023 at 08:29 am