Why did LaBrie distort his voice so much on Live in Tokyo?

[SnakeEyes]

I was just listening to some songs from this and it seems like he intentionally distorted his voice in a lot of places that he didn't have to and, for the most part, it sounds terrible (in my opinion).  Why did he do that?  

edit..

Of course, I saw this performance back around the time it came out, but I hadn't seen it in a while. 

[tjanuranus]

what do you mean by distort?

[Perpetual Change]

I don't know, but because of that I've always wondered why people considered LiT and LatM to be his best live moments. They were my first DT live releases and when I heard them I was really let down by James' voice. When I got Live Scenes I remember thinking he sounded so much better.

[tjanuranus]

well he goes kind of crazy at tokyo but i dig. But LATM... Greatest vocals EVER! i know they were re recorded but i don't care. His voice on metropolis and the killing hand.........

Still have wet dreams about it.

[abydos]

Because it's awesome.

[Global Laziness]

Are you talking about this show? Wasn't that after he wrecked his vocal chords? Could that account for some of it?

[RaiseTheKnife]

I believe James felt compelled to push his voice higher, as it was impressive to reach this register, but the number of shows on the I&W tour wore down his vocals, hence the scratchiness.

A simple listen to some of their live performances in 92 demonstrates what James was trying to achieve before the his voice became strained in 93.  He hits it nicely in Killing Hand, live in Long Island in 92 (Home Sweet Home bootleg).  He also hit it cleanly many times in his Winter Rose days. 

No, he didn't have to try to push the register, but DT were all about showing off at the time, and this was James' "see what I can do" moment.  His vocal approach at the time was to belt it out with fury, which only wore out his voice more on the I&W tour.

[wolfking]

Wasn't this one of the first shows he did after the food poisoning incident?  Isn't that the reason for the vocals.

[abydos]

That's 94.

[hefdaddy42]

None of what we are talking about happened after his food poisoning incident.

[Dream Team]

Youthful exuberance getting the better of him. At least the vocals were still mostly in key.

[Jamesman42]

When I got Live Scenes I remember thinking he sounded so much better.

Do not agree, from memory (it's been a while).