“Last time we played Los Angeles, we didn’t know it was our last show. This time we know it is our last show.” This is the kind of “banter” bassist/vocalist Stephen Immerwahr offered his audience last night at the Echoplex. Those few opportunities to engage with the crowd between songs were about as fitting as one could expect from a Codeine show. “Median” was introduced as the last song the band ever wrote, and about being in between life and death. There was a dark humor to Immerwahr’s description of his songs, which he described in terms like “somewhat sad,” “somewhat happy,” and “mostly sad.” The one “sweet” song was the last of the evening, “Broken Hearted Wine”, which he said was a goodnight kiss to send us home.
Not having seen the first incarnation (or second!) of Codeine when the trio of Immerwahr, guitarist John Engle and drummer Chris Brokaw performed together between 1990 and 1994 (I might have always had good taste in music, but I wasn’t hip enough to listen to Codeine when I was seven years old), it would be impossible for me to compare last night’s reunion show to anything I’ve previously witnessed. That said, I could not have been happier with the band’s performance.
The band was focused, tight, and relatively stoic as they made their way through a twelve-song set in front of a…well…I don’t know how many tickets were sold last night but I’m sure the Echoplex wasn’t sold out. Either way, at least up front everyone was captivated by what was happening on stage. Perhaps it was Immerwahr’s lithe delivery that commanded the attention, but it could just as easily have been the dynamic shifts of songs like “Loss Leader,” and “Cave-In” that enraptured the crowd.
Two of the most memorable moments of the set occurred when Brokaw stepped out from behind his drum set to play bass on “Pea” and then “Broken-Hearted Wine.” During those numbers Immerwahr’s voice was brought to the forefront, and his poetic lyrics were given center stage. In between, the band played their rendition of MX-80’s “Promise Of Love,” which Immerwahr introduced by saying he was unfamiliar with California, and unsure if there was any kind of rivalry between LA and San Francisco, but it was a song written by a band from northern California. After the final strains of the last song of the night — that goodnight kiss to send us home — the three musicians lingered on stage briefly for pats on the back and hugs. Whatever had manifested itself eighteen years ago that finally caused the trio (minus Brokaw, plus Doug Scharin) to go their separate ways was irrelevant. For a moment, again, the members of Codeine were all smiles as they bid farewell to each other and their fans — for the last time — this time on their own terms.
The last scheduled Codeine show will be held at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on Sunday night, July 15th. If tickets are still available, I implore you to GO!
Setlist:
D
Cigarette Machine
Tom
Median
Sea
Pickup Song
Jr.
Loss Leader
Barely Real
Washed Up
Cave-In [MP3]
Pea
(encore)
Promise Of Love
Broken-Hearted Wine
