photo credit: Steve Rood***There are places in this world where people gather in fields, raise tents, and with a collective purpose join together for a few hours. People come to feel something that can’t feel anywhere else. And there are times during these gatherings when the spirit is so strong that those united nearly burst with emotion; it takes hold of them so forcefully it pours out in unrestrained shouts and screams and claps.Maybe it was the frustration of the recent postpone/return/postpone cycle of live music; the intermittent shows that popped up here and there, inching the needle towards normal only to have a pandemic pull it back to zero. Maybe it was just the fact that Ghost Light is the kind of band that revives and elevates the spirit regardless, with compositional and improvisational skill that aligned perfectly on a Friday night at The Troubadour with an audience whose collective morale was ready, willing, and able, finally, to rise again.This is the night it was at the legendary West Hollywood venue that, in a city full of theatres and clubs, managed to survive the past two years and was breathing again. So, too, was Ghost Light back on the road, making its Troub debut, and visiting the West Coast for the first time since the fall of 2019. The Philly-based quintet was also welcoming its newest bassist, Taylor Shell, into the fold, and adding some new material- including the latest single, “Don’t Say Goodnight Just Yet”- to the repertoire. It was a bubbling blend of anxiety, excitement, and anticipation- the first of nearly a dozen dates on this western swing- that became almost instantly combustible.Simply written, as the final notes of a brilliant opening “Don’t Come Apart” dissolved away, the hundreds filling in the venerable club started applauding and shouting and screaming. And didn’t stop. The outburst came as a wave, first cresting, then building again to a second crest as the band launched “Diamond Eyes.” It paralleled the jams the five would unleash throughout the two-set, three-hour gem of a show; building, layer upon layer, to a frenzied peak, only to find another mount to summit, and another climb, each time leaving the SoCal crowd enraptured.Led by the twin-guitar force of Tom Hamilton and Raina Mullen, and the virtuosic keyboard work of Holly Bowling, Ghost Light is a dervish of energy and musical dexterity. Hamilton couldn’t stand still if he tried; limbs akimbo as he channels his rapid-fire riffs or soothes the room with melodic swells. Mullen is a deceiver; diminutive, and doe-eyed behind her glasses, owning the voice of a songbird, with talons raised on guitar; comping mood-shifting chords behind Hamilton, or cutting hearts with her piercing leads.Bowling, too, displays her multiplicity, supporting with rhythmic flare or soloing into the stratosphere, coloring with a variety of tones and shapes. And it’s all driven by drummer Scotty Zwang, just as adept at odd-meter contortions as he is propelling a straight-ahead sprint to the finish line. Add Shell- his infectious smile and even more infectious basslines- who somehow engages in these ongoing groovy conversations with each of his four mates simultaneously, and it becomes apparent why the applause never stopped.As midnight approached, Ghost List offered one more- “Leave the Light On”- that, in its way, personified the evening. The light was back on, shining as brightly as ever. And no one wanted to turn it off.