LLLA: Linda Live in Los Angeles seeing Former Ghosts

LLLA - Former Ghosts in Los Angeles, 2010

I always try to read books in their original language - except when they were written in French as I can only play bingo in French (or any language other than Dutch, English or German for that matter), so an entire book would be a bit too much of a stretch - so why not go see a band in their natural habitat? Now, I'm not implying I flew all the way from London to LA just to see Former Ghosts (that wouldn't do justice of the great city that LA actually is and might be a slight overstatement on the things my craziness and more importantly budget will allow me to do), but it certainly influenced my travel itinerary.

Now, I've just mentioned that I think LA is a great city, and it certainly is, but the downside of that city just is that the public transportation isn't all that. And why should it in a city where absolutely everyone can afford a car? I for one can't even afford thinking of buying a car, as every other student in Europe, so I had to make ado with the metro as buses where a bigger mystery to me than the solution to a Rubik's cube. I also discovered that streets can bear the same name for miles to come in the States (as in, it took me over 3 quarters to walk there). Surprisingly, I was still early and got the chance of lurking around Origami records which only sells vinyl and has the best collection of local records which I've ever seen in a city (go LA!). I may have spend a bit too much in there.

Afghan Raiders, from Las Vegas, were to start this event, kindly curated by Rainbow Arabia who took on a residency in the Echo in June. After the first few songs I'd rather taken a liking to them, and was even very interested in their upcoming album (do you also feel a 'but' coming?) which is coming out later this year, September if my memory serves me well. However (nope, no buts today), when they ended on a David Bowie cover, they lost my support. 'Fashion' isn't one of my favourite tracks, but Afghan Raiders still manage to personally offend me - but that might be because I'm a bit anal about David Bowie tracks being covered by band that are not worthy (which means everyone but the master himself and Kevin Barnes when he's wearing his golden hot pants). 'Fashion' is to be recorded for the first ever David Bowie tribute album that has actually been approved by Mr Bowie himself. The project is organised by Manimal Vinyl and profits will go to War Child - and with contributing artists ranging from Duran Duran and French First Lady Carla Bruni to A Place To Bury Strangers and Rainbow Arabia that ought to be interesting at the very least.

Luckily there's Freddy Ruppert to lighten up the mood. Okay, scrap that, no Former Ghosts performance is ever going to 'lighten' any mood - even suicidal ones would darken after hearing this live. But it just is so incredibly good. The sound quality doesn't really compare to the Luminaire, but it doesn't even matter an awful lot as Freddy is so emotive that his performance would be amazing even without sound.

'New Orleans', a track that is well under way of becoming my favourite song ever, is second on the set list, and seems even more stunning than the first time I got to witness it. Just hearing this one track live makes the whole 20 hour journey worthwhile for me (well, that might be just a bit of an overstatement, but it's certainly worth the overstatement). What makes it even more special -- if special is a word you'd want to use to describe this -- is his rendition of 'Mother', as his mother's birthday would have been coming up this very week and his father and brother - both not frequent members of his audience - are present today. This makes it almost gut-wrenching to watch, but in the best way possible.

The set almost naturally comes to an end when Freddy just doesn't seem to be able to carry on any further. So no encore, and why should there be? As John Peel once wrote: "I doubt that Leonardo, having completed work on The Last Supper, presumably to some local acclaim, would have interpreted this acclaim as a signal to paint in a few more figures, and find the utterly predictable making and taking of encores rather debasing." Indeed. Without an encore, it just seems that more real, which seems like the popular term to use these days.

As aforementioned, the evening was curated by Rainbow Arabia who also allowed themselves to play the closing slot on this evening. Much to my own regret, I had to miss their set as sleep deprivation and an utter lack of knowledge of where I was or how to get back to my hotel urged an early retirement. Thank God for friendly taxi-drivers.