Chris Shinn in Retrospect Options

[LiveForNow]

Now that the Chris Shinn chapter of Live has closed, what are your takeaways?

[LiveForNow]

So I wanted to wait until the reunion was in full swing and new music was released to throw in my two cents. Here is my long overdue response.

Firstly, I'm very glad Chris joined the band. I think it was hard for me while it was going on because we didn't know if ECCP would ever get back together (it seemed unlikely) and I had never seen ECCP live. While the Chris era was going on we had no way of knowing that this would be a four year era versus a permanent lineup. Living through the uncertainty wasn't fun. But now that it's in the past, I'm going to approach this response from a perspective of hindsight.

I think if it weren't for Chris, ECCP would never have reunited. I think Live needed to continue without Ed to bring his ego down a notch. I think CCP needed to write songs again and have them be Live songs. I think CCP needed to reclaim the band. I think that was incredibly important toward getting to where we are now, and for any singer to come into that is a tough situation. But without Chris, I don't think ECCP would ever have learned to appreciate each other as much as they claim to do now.

I liked the Turn. I still listen to Siren's Call and 6310 Rodgerton Dr. regularly.

I think Chris' vocals were really nice on certain Live songs and didn't fit as well on others. His vocals were especially good on I Alone. Here are two of my favorite versions with Chris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Of79EAevBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG3HfFhmMNE

Now for the bad. I went to three shows with Chris. Summerland 2013, The album release in fall 2014, and another concert in 2015. The last show was bad. Maybe 100 fans in a venue of 1,700. Chris forgot the lyrics to more than one song. He apologized to the crowd. It seemed clear that this era wasn't working commercially. Say what you want you will about money, but seeing a show with 100 fans in a venue for 1,700 is depressing and doesn't make for a good experience. I wouldn't have wanted to go to more shows like that and it seemed there wasn't enough demand for this lineup that they could do solo shows regularly.

I never saw Live with Ed before the reunion, but now that I've seen them three times with Ed I can say that a live concert with Ed live is way better than a live concert with Chris. Ed's vocals sound way better in person than they do in YouTube videos. In person, it's a cohesive sound and Ed's vocals work. The YouTube videos really don't do it justice.

I think CCP made better music with TGF and CCCP than they do today with Ed. So for me, the tradeoff is do I want better shows or better records? I'll take better shows. I'm glad we got The Turn, but at this point, the shows is what I most care about.

I wish the Chris era had more influence over today's songwriting process and musical output. I think CCP really regained their footing and voice during the Chris era, and now I don't see it represented on Local 717.

I think the Chris era also lead to our current set lists that don't feature any songs from V (except Overcome in the Netherlands), BOP (except Heaven solo), or SFBM. I credit the Chris era with this band currently playing most of its songs from the albums that were released in the 90s.

It was also interesting to see CT filling the role as spokesperson for the band during this era. He sort of was all over the place, but he really tried to sell Chris to the fans. Now that Ed is back, I wish CT would thank Chris or thank the fans for believing in that era of the band. For CT to not say anything seems like either he never believed what he was saying or he isn't willing to stand up for Chris even with Ed back in the fold. That sucks for Chris.

Dan, I really appreciate how well you mod these boards. And on all matters I trust your judgement. But I have one request for the boards that doubles as my final thoughts on the Chris era-matter. I STRONGLY think we should have a dedicated section on this board for Chris. We have one for Ed and TGF. Chris was a part of this band. ECCP can try to remove this era from the face of the earth (Ed said recently in an interview that The Turn is no longer a part of their discography). But we as fans should honor the full history of this band, whether we liked it or not. As far as I'm concerned, Chris was the lead singer of Live from 2012-2015. During that time, Live released an album called The Turn. That shouldn't be erased, and if the band wants to erase it, then we should do even more to preserve that aspect of Live history and show our respects to the man who fronted our favorite band for a four year period. That man is Chris Shinn, and he deserves his own section on this board.

I wish Chris the best in all his endeavors and hope that one day he will play songs from The Turn in concert.

This post has been edited by LiveForNow: Jul 2 2019, 12:12 pm