Bill Champlin – no longer in Chicago
There’s a bit of controversy brewing in regards to Bill Champlin’s decision to leave the group Chicago. Even though the official press release seems to indicate that Champlin quit the band to pursue a solo career, some fans believe Champlin was simply forced to leave. Whatever the case may be, Chicago has a huge hole to fill now that Champlin is gone. I can’t imagine Robert Lamm and Jason Scheff being able to take over Champlin’s vocal parts. Lamm simply doesn’t have the vocal range and Scheff’s voice is pretty much shot as it is and hasn’t been singing “in-tune” for years.
My two-cents is that Champlin should have left a long time ago. In my opinion, Chicago, as a band, has been running on fumes for the last decade. They’ve been touring every summer as a nostalgia act and their setlist has been pretty stagnant over the years with no new material to support. The last time I saw Chicago live, Champlin looked absolutely bored out of his mind, playing the same old songs night after night. Yes, I’m sure it’s hard to leave the steady paycheck but still I think it’s a good move on his part. Hopefully he’ll be able to find some success with his new album No Place Left to Fall.
Catch Bill Champlin live in November:
Fri 11/06/09 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House
Sat 11/07/09 San Diego, CA Anthology
Tue 11/10/09 Santa Cruz, CA Moe’s Alley
Wed 11/11/09 Mill Valley, CA Throckmorton Theatre
Thu 11/12/09 Tuolumne, CA Black Oak Casino
Sat 11/14/09 Santa Rosa, CA The Last Day Saloon
Sun 11/15/09 Newcastle, CA Constable Jack’s
Thu 11/19/09 Portland, OR Jimmy Maks
Fri 11/20/09 Langley, WA Mukilteo Coffee Roasters
Sat 11/21/09 Langley, WA Mukilteo Coffee Roasters
Sun 11/22/09 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
And you can still see Chicago (with Lou Pardini replacing Champlin, at least for now) as they finish off their tour with Earth, Wind and Fire:
Fri 08/21/09 Wichita, KS Hartman Arena
Sat 08/22/09 Oklahoma City, OK Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre
Tue 08/25/09 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Wed 08/26/09 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Fri 08/28/09 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Sat 08/29/09 Essex Junction, VT Champlain Valley Expo Grandstand
Sun 08/30/09 Wantagh, NY Nikon At Jones Beach Theater
Tue 09/01/09 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
Wed 09/02/09 Allentown, PA Allentown Fairgrounds
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Find out more at BillChamplin.net
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sadly, Chicago lost me once they started continually repackaging their greatest hits over and over again. they were obviously trying to milk their fan base dry.
and don’t get me started on their last studio album produced by the guy from Rascal Flatts. what a train wreck that was.
unless their reunite with Peter Cetera (highly unlikely), Chicago is pretty much done in my book.
Going forward, I’ll be much more apt to give my money to Bill Champlin’s solo endeavours and his work with the Sons of Champlin than Chicago.
Stick a fork in ‘em they’re done.
I caught 2 shows back when Bailey was still in the band– and 7 since. The shows before his departure were much better than the shows since. After SOS got shelved and focus was shifted to N&D Bill seemed to grow more bored at a near exponential rate year after year.
Can’t say I blame him. Back in the early 90s– even on the Terry Kath material they let him stretch out a bit– I remember how he used to do a scat vocal audience participation thing during “Dialogue Pt. 2″ that was pretty cool.
I’ll always enjoy and appreciate Chicago’s older material, but it looks like that show I caught with EWF back in ’04 was my last Chicago concert.
[...] speaking with some friends about Bill Champlin leaving Chicago, I realized that casual fans may not really be aware of how much their vocals are [...]
here’s my recent review of Bill Champlin’s No Place Left to Fall -
http://www.retroblog.net/2009/11/06/bill-champlin-no-place-left-to-fall-review/