Your opinion on James LaBrie's performances over the years?

[Tim van Duijn]

What do you guys think of James' vocalperformances through the years? I think he is getting better and better and he is way more confident on stage than he was before. Very cool to know that he is taking vocal lessons again by Jaime Vendera.

When i hear him sing these songs now i can only take my hat off. Songs like Scarred, The Mirror and Lie etc etc are NOT easy to sing and he is nailing them. What i notice is that his performance went down around 2004/2005 (with Score as an exception, damn he nails that one) and even went further down around the Systematic Chaos tour (mainly because he adapted a new vocal technique to save his vocal chords). But around 2009 he started to climb the tree again and during the ADTOE tour he was again very good. But on this tour he is really on fire. Can you imagine? He is singing better than he did 10 years ago (the man is 50).

What do you think? Are you satisfied with his performane? Do you have any favorite JLB moments during this tour or the last tour?

[wasteland]

I agree with everything you just said, the man is doing very well and, which is most important, looks very confortable with what he is doing and achieving on a daily basis. I was very concerned when I first heard of the Evening With format (a taxing one without any doubts) and the very clustered tour schedule, but he showed me and the world he can handle that just fine without having to tune down the average level of his performance.

[Mladen]

He was amazing on Black clouds & silver linings tour, and he's been pretty much as fantastic every time I've seen them since. I was blown away by his performance in Vienna this year, he nailed those Awake songs. 

Everyone I've talked to who's been following DT around in the last ten or so years says that James is doing much better job now than he was a decade ago.

[?]

I'm not a bootleg collector, but judging by what I've seen and heard James is way stronger and more consistent than, say, 10 years ago. I've heard some downright bad performances from the late 90s and early 00s, but it seems that he has way less off nights nowadays and he has regained the rasp and power he lacked in the mid-00s. I thought James did an amazing job in Helsinki a few weeks ago (not counting the slightly out-of-tune singing in Strange Deja Vu), considering his age and the ruthless tour schedule. The only downside is that the higher he goes, the harder it becomes to make out what he's saying, but on the other hand enunciation has never been his strongest feature.

[PwnsomeWin]

I listened to a live performance Illumination Theory recently (and a few other live performances), and I am going to be completely honest and say JLB is really not that good anymore IMO. Although maybe I just watched a bunch of bad days. But in IT, the vocals at the ending were just... ugh. Was very disappointed.

[wasteland]

If the performance you saw was Porto you may wish to watch something more up to date and responding to his actual level for this tour. Otherwise, peace!

[Tim van Duijn]

I listened to a live performance Illumination Theory recently (and a few other live performances), and I am going to be completely honest and say JLB is really not that good anymore IMO. Although maybe I just watched a bunch of bad days. But in IT, the vocals at the ending were just... ugh. Was very disappointed.

Listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOI9v_vN_7M

I was standing in the front row in front of Petrucci and i went apeshit when James nailed that part!

[Tis BOOLsheet]

The studio performances have gotten better. I like the last two albums better than the past dozen. I don't know whether that is due partially to the band telling him to sing differently or different engineers, but he does sound better on DT12 and ADToE.

The live performances continue to be poor, unfortunately. But that is an old story.

[Madman Shepherd]

I listened to a live performance Illumination Theory recently (and a few other live performances), and I am going to be completely honest and say JLB is really not that good anymore IMO. Although maybe I just watched a bunch of bad days. But in IT, the vocals at the ending were just... ugh. Was very disappointed.

Listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOI9v_vN_7M

I was standing in the front row in front of Petrucci and i went apeshit when James nailed that part!

Damn, I've been purposely avoiding watching many youtube clips before going to see them in Chicago (aside from the opening night videos) and damn, I got chills watching that.  Thanks for linking us to it. 

[TheGreatPretender]

Live, he's been consistently awesome since the ToT days, but even more so from the BC&SL days, like Mladen said.

In the studio, though, lately, I haven't been too impressed, mostly because of the actual compositions. They've been very safe in having him at a comfortable range, and the actual vocal melodies aren't anything too interesting. There are exceptions, of course, such as the second half of Illumination Theory. But I wish stuff like that was all over the album, and not, "Wait til you guys hear that one part, where he kills it!"
Personally, I think the last studio album where JaBrie's vocals blew me away, and had interesting and elaborate melodies or ideas, was Systematic Chaos. Ever since BC&SL, most of the vocal melodies (that JP, I assume, is writing) have just not been very interesting to listen to. They compliment the music okay, but if you were to just sing the melody out loud to yourself, I wouldn't find it to be anything to even bother asking about. So I'm disinclined to blame it on LaBrie, since I know he CAN sing the high parts, and I know he can nail catchy melodies from his solo album.
I think it would be cool if JR wrote the vocal melodies on the next album, with his classically trained piano ear, I'd love to hear what he could come up with for James to sing.

[TAC]

The studio performances have gotten better. I like the last two albums better than the past dozen. I don't know whether that is due partially to the band telling him to sing differently or different engineers, but he does sound better on DT12 and ADToE.

The live performances continue to be poor, unfortunately. But that is an old story.

I disagree on both points. James sang flawlessly on both SC and BC&SL.

And while James has an off night here and there, he's been pretty strong since the '04 tour. I think on a whole, he may have slipped a little on the SC tour, but by and large, he's been pretty good.

Live, he's been consistently awesome since the ToT days, but even more so from the BC&SL days, like Mladen said.

In the studio, though, lately, I haven't been too impressed, mostly because of the actual compositions. They've been very safe in having him at a comfortable range, and the actual vocal melodies aren't anything too interesting. There are exceptions, of course, such as the second half of Illumination Theory. But I wish stuff like that was all over the album, and not, "Wait til you guys hear that one part, where he kills it!"
Personally, I think the last studio album where JaBrie's vocals blew me away, and had interesting and elaborate melodies or ideas, was Systematic Chaos. Ever since BC&SL, most of the vocal melodies (that JP, I assume, is writing) have just not been very interesting to listen to. They compliment the music okay, but if you were to just sing the melody out loud to yourself, I wouldn't find it to be anything to even bother asking about. So I'm disinclined to blame it on LaBrie, since I know he CAN sing the high parts, and I know he can nail catchy melodies from his solo album.
I think it would be cool if JR wrote the vocal melodies on the next album, with his classically trained piano ear, I'd love to hear what he could come up with for James to sing.

I agree with this post. Listen to James on the BC&SL Covers disc. He steals it.

[jakepriest]

I find that nowadays James sounds better on his solo albums than on DT records. ADToE and DT12 vocal melodies and delivery are pretty boring and stale, but on his latest solo album he doesn't even try to hit the high notes and still sounds fantastic.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

The studio performances have gotten better. I like the last two albums better than the past dozen. I don't know whether that is due partially to the band telling him to sing differently or different engineers, but he does sound better on DT12 and ADToE.

The live performances continue to be poor, unfortunately. But that is an old story.

I disagree on both points. James sang flawlessly on both SC and BC&SL.

And while James has an off night here and there, he's been pretty strong since the '04 tour. I think on a whole, he may have slipped a little on the SC tour, but by and large, he's been pretty good.

Live, he's been consistently awesome since the ToT days, but even more so from the BC&SL days, like Mladen said.

In the studio, though, lately, I haven't been too impressed, mostly because of the actual compositions. They've been very safe in having him at a comfortable range, and the actual vocal melodies aren't anything too interesting. There are exceptions, of course, such as the second half of Illumination Theory. But I wish stuff like that was all over the album, and not, "Wait til you guys hear that one part, where he kills it!"
Personally, I think the last studio album where JaBrie's vocals blew me away, and had interesting and elaborate melodies or ideas, was Systematic Chaos. Ever since BC&SL, most of the vocal melodies (that JP, I assume, is writing) have just not been very interesting to listen to. They compliment the music okay, but if you were to just sing the melody out loud to yourself, I wouldn't find it to be anything to even bother asking about. So I'm disinclined to blame it on LaBrie, since I know he CAN sing the high parts, and I know he can nail catchy melodies from his solo album.
I think it would be cool if JR wrote the vocal melodies on the next album, with his classically trained piano ear, I'd love to hear what he could come up with for James to sing.

I agree with this post. Listen to James on the BC&SL Covers disc. He steals it.

He doesn't "have an off night here and there." He is consistently off key and sloppy in his delivery and it has been that way for quite some time now, with no improvement in sight. The night that deviates from all of the others is the one in which he does not exhibit those issues; it's not the other way around unfortunately.

The fans here would afford no other vocalist the unconditional forgiveness that he enjoys here. For better or worse, I simply cannot turn a blind eye (or ear) to such performances; nor can I pretend they did not happen.

[wasteland]

Due, I don't know what you have listened to, but the faces of the people attending the show I went weren't really those of people turning a blind eye to something disappointingly bad. All the opposite, verily.

[Tim van Duijn]

I can think of an easier job instead of singing in Dream Theater. LaBrie is 50 now and to me he does a great great job!

I agree with the fact that they are approaching the music different to stay in JLB's vocal range (can you imagine what they could come op with if James could nail everything?)

I was talking about his performance around 2004-2005 when he started to get more sloppy and more off key.

For example check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivID2_qjDhU

and then this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHHSBWWqDpU

Notice that this is the same tour. Actually, there were 7 days between the Toronto gig and the Score gig.

[evz]

James is sounding amazing right now (as is the rest of the band), check out his performances on the Awake material...  He's nailing stuff...  Just awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLynpnqAoSY#aid=P6TJJxFydbA

[evz]

Ok maybe Scarred isn't perfect...  but it's pretty darn good

[Volante99]

I think you're being a bit unfair. Let's face it, JLB is, and never has been the caliber of a Freddie Mercury/Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halfords of the world. His technique is not good, and his voice overall has a whiny/nasaly quality that a lot of people hate, but at the end of the day he gets the job done, has a great range, and is such an integral part of the DT sound, I can't imagine anyone else in that spot. Every show I've seen him at, his voice comes off incredibly well in a live setting. You have to remember, listening to bootlegs through the venue board or from a cell phone camera can sound incredibly unforgiving for a singer. When you listen to those youtube videos, it's easy to pick which parts he was off, but when you actually hear him LIVE, it's another story.

There's no question he had a major slump in the late 90's early 00's, but he is seriously bringing his A-Game this tour and I'm very excited to hear JLB on the NA tour. It may sound weird, but I think that's part of the fun of being a diehard fan of DT; wondering if JLB is going to nail the vocal acrobatics of this part or that part. Adds a little anticipation and excitement to the mix. I'm probably in the minority here, but I mean wouldn't it be a bore if he was album perfect night after night? 

[adastra]

Labrie has had his ups and downs , but overall his performance is great!
He is the voice of dream theater and I wouldn't want anyone to replace him..
If we'd come to a point where JLB decided to call it quits,  I'd rather see the whole band quit than them getting a new singer.

I hope that next DT album would be more softer and mellow.. More acoustic stuff, less distorted, shorter songs etc.  Something like FII.
I'd love to hear JLB sing soft tunes more.

[TheGreatPretender]

I think you're being a bit unfair. Let's face it, JLB is, and never has been the caliber of a Freddie Mercury/Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halfords of the world.

Well, Freddie Mercury has had an absolutely magical voice and is largely considered the best singer who's ever lived. Arguably of course, it's a matter of opinion... But Labrie is easily on the same caliber as Dickinson and Halford. Dickinson is a fantastic vocalist, but he throws away half his notes by just screaming them out haphazardly, which has a great theatrical value, but says nothing about his technique as a vocalist. And Halford is fantastic at doing those loud, high pitched wailing notes, but his standard singing is average, and sometimes quite nasal too. So I really don't see why they're considered vocalist gods but not LaBrie. Considering where he is, after a vocal injury, it's nothing short of amazing. And before the injury, his vocals on Live at the Marquee, and on Awake, blow anything Dickinson and Halford have ever done out of the water.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

When I first got into DT like seven years ago, I didn't really like LaBrie. I didn't really think about the quality of a vocalist back then, but he didn't seem all that special and was fairly thin-sounding. It wasn't until I got into a lot of '80s era hair/power metal that I really started to think a lot about vocals and vocalists, and then when I heard the early LaBrie stuff again in that context, I was blown away by how tremendous his voice was back in the pre-accident days.

The funny thing about LaBrie is that, compared to a lot of the other vocal gods of the late 80's/early 90's, he declined very rapidly--the accident hit when he was just 30, and so he sounded way past his prime even when he was in his thirties. And yet, fast forward the clock a few more years, and it becomes quite obvious that in the post-Score era, LaBrie's vocals hold up a lot better than many of his peers. Fire up any Sanctuary clip since they reformed and see how Warrel Dane sounds. Or D.C. Cooper since he rejoined Royal Hunt--he adds insult to injury by always getting the words wrong in addition to the obvious decline in his singing. Miljenko Matijevic, who had one of the most unbelievable voices I've ever heard, usually sings stuff tuned down and still has pitch issues, and he's younger than James. Or any number of other guys in that 45-55 age range. Then put LALP on and see how lucky DT is that their singer can still do what he does.

Mind you, I'm well aware James isn't anything close to perfect--I'm the sort of person who gets bugged that he doesn't do the F5 in IT live. He does make mistakes on a fairly frequent basis, and he does have clear flaws that many have already pointed out in this thread. But DT isn't going to get consistently better performancs out of a vocalist unless they do something profoundly odd like fire James and bring in somebody fifteen years younger than all the other band members, which would be fairly silly. He's certainly had his ups and downs, but as somebody who prizes vocal technicality, I'm more satisfied with where he is now than I have been since I started being a fan in the 8V/SC era. The question is how long he'll keep being able to defy his age, which we'll see. He certainly seems dedicated to getting the most out of his voice.

[BlobVanDam]

Miljenko Matijevic, who had one of the most unbelievable voices I've ever heard, usually sings stuff tuned down and still has pitch issues, and he's younger than James.

To be fair to Matijevic, JLB at the same age wouldn't fare any better on those songs. Those songs are all crazy high, and even tuned down are hitting at least as high as the F# in probably literally every single song. When Matijevic is singing the lower/mid range stuff, he still sounds great.

That said, that's not taking anything away from JLB, because I agree his voice is holding up incredibly well for his age, and it's a real testament to his dedication that he is still improving in many ways, and still pulling off vocals he recorded 20+ years ago.
He's not always perfect, but if you take any singer with DT's schedule, and put him under a microscope like DTF does, nobody's perfect. I think there are other vocalists his age and older that sound better in the studio, but not many of those can do what he does live night after night and hold up that well.

[Marion Crane]

I listened to a live performance Illumination Theory recently (and a few other live performances), and I am going to be completely honest and say JLB is really not that good anymore IMO. Although maybe I just watched a bunch of bad days. But in IT, the vocals at the ending were just... ugh. Was very disappointed.

Listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOI9v_vN_7M

I was standing in the front row in front of Petrucci and i went apeshit when James nailed that part!

I mean...he's flat for about 80% of the ending.  I wasn't very impressed with that.  The scream was good, but the rest was off

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Ok maybe Scarred isn't perfect...  but it's pretty darn good

Still miles better than Chaos in Loltion.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

I think you're being a bit unfair. Let's face it, JLB is, and never has been the caliber of a Freddie Mercury/Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halfords of the world. His technique is not good, and his voice overall has a whiny/nasaly quality that a lot of people hate, but at the end of the day he gets the job done, has a great range, and is such an integral part of the DT sound, I can't imagine anyone else in that spot. Every show I've seen him at, his voice comes off incredibly well in a live setting. You have to remember, listening to bootlegs through the venue board or from a cell phone camera can sound incredibly unforgiving for a singer. When you listen to those youtube videos, it's easy to pick which parts he was off, but when you actually hear him LIVE, it's another story.

There's no question he had a major slump in the late 90's early 00's, but he is seriously bringing his A-Game this tour and I'm very excited to hear JLB on the NA tour. It may sound weird, but I think that's part of the fun of being a diehard fan of DT; wondering if JLB is going to nail the vocal acrobatics of this part or that part. Adds a little anticipation and excitement to the mix. I'm probably in the minority here, but I mean wouldn't it be a bore if he was album perfect night after night? 

To be honest, Halford doesn't sound great these days from what I've seen on bootlegs of the most recent tour. But his style and sound was pretty different anyway. Halford is a different vocal type and a different connection to Judas Priest than JLB to DT.

There is a case to be made that in the past decade, Ripper Owens has been the better vocalist.

[Konrad]

On stage? Getting better every time i see him performing.
Never been a fan of him as a singer, honestly.

[Sacul]

Ok maybe Scarred isn't perfect...  but it's pretty darn good

Still miles better than Chaos in Loltion.

Everything is better than Crap in Motion.

[Invisible]

I think you're being a bit unfair. Let's face it, JLB is, and never has been the caliber of a Freddie Mercury/Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halfords of the world.

Well, Freddie Mercury has had an absolutely magical voice and is largely considered the best singer who's ever lived. Arguably of course, it's a matter of opinion... But Labrie is easily on the same caliber as Dickinson and Halford. Dickinson is a fantastic vocalist, but he throws away half his notes by just screaming them out haphazardly, which has a great theatrical value, but says nothing about his technique as a vocalist. And Halford is fantastic at doing those loud, high pitched wailing notes, but his standard singing is average, and sometimes quite nasal too. So I really don't see why they're considered vocalist gods but not LaBrie. Considering where he is, after a vocal injury, it's nothing short of amazing. And before the injury, his vocals on Live at the Marquee, and on Awake, blow anything Dickinson and Halford have ever done out of the water.

I agree with this, although I have to say, while Freddie is my favourite singer ever, he sang completely different live and on studio, sometimes a whole octave down on quite a number of songs. More operatic live, more gritty, rock sounding on studio. Sometimes I don't understand what's the big deal of performers singing in a different octave or key live, if it benefits the performance.

I'm not a fan of high tenors vocals, for the same reasons I don't like sopranos, nothing wrong with them, just personal preferences. So, JLB was an acquired taste for me, even on I&W, and I must be one of the few that prefer his mid range voice, especially since whenever he goes high, I can't understand absolutely nothing of what is he saying. It's great for dramatic effect(Scarred being a great example), but doing it constantly doesn't do much for me(Innocence Faded infamous SOMETHING SOMETHING section).

As for live setting, I think, given his age he's doing a very good job. Not perfect, but singing is the most difficult instrument of all so I have a great respect for everyone who can pull this off at JLB consistency. '95-'05 was probably his worst period, sometimes extending to '07 and '09/10, when he had an on night he was alright, but when he was off sometimes he sounded like an old lady with no teeth. Look up the Download festival of '09 to see what I'm talking about. Nowdays and the last tour, I think he improved A LOT, and only now I can say I'm a fan of his singing, not before. I wouldn't mind if he went an octave down for some performances though, like the F# at Learning to Live.

I think his mistakes are probably more due to the fact that he doesn't write his vocal melodies than anything else. On his solo albums he sounds a lot better. That gap was narrowed with this last album, probably because he recorded everything on his own, but I still think he should be more involved in the melodies process.

[GasparXR]

I can think of an easier job instead of singing in Dream Theater. LaBrie is 50 now and to me he does a great great job!

I agree with the fact that they are approaching the music different to stay in JLB's vocal range (can you imagine what they could come op with if James could nail everything?)

I was talking about his performance around 2004-2005 when he started to get more sloppy and more off key.

For example check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivID2_qjDhU

and then this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHHSBWWqDpU

Notice that this is the same tour. Actually, there were 7 days between the Toronto gig and the Score gig.

Different tours dude. That Toronto show is 2004, Score was 2006.

[PetFish]

This might just be me but has anyone noticed how we treat James very differently than the other guys?

Our attitude seems to be like this:  We expect JP, JM, JR, MM, and MP to play perfectly and when they flub something we come here and laugh about it saying "they're human!" and forgive them without a second thought and have a good time with it.

But then we look at James and it's the opposite.  It's like we expect him to be off and when he "does good" we come here and praise him for it but then it seems to go right back to complaining, pointing out his flaws, and wishing it were 1994 again.

I don't know if anyone understands what I'm saying but I really feel James is treated unfairly with regard to his instrument while the other guys are not.  And this isn't anything new, it's been going on for as long as I can remember.  I have no problem bitching about James' abilities as a front-man, I think he's probably the worst ever, but I'd never say anything bad about his voice.  Do I hear flubs?  Sure.  But I think the way we expect him to be bad then cheer when he's good and then go right back to expecting the worst isn't cool.

Age, fatigue, long shows, injuries, environmental factors, and mileage aside, I think James kicks ass with what he's got and I appreciate him every time he goes out there and sings for us.

[adastra]

This might just be me but has anyone noticed how we treat James very differently than the other guys?

Our attitude seems to be like this:  We expect JP, JM, JR, MM, and MP to play perfectly and when they flub something we come here and laugh about it saying "they're human!" and forgive them without a second thought and have a good time with it.

But then we look at James and it's the opposite.  It's like we expect him to be off and when he "does good" we come here and praise him for it but then it seems to go right back to complaining, pointing out his flaws, and wishing it were 1994 again.

I don't know if anyone understands what I'm saying but I really feel James is treated unfairly with regard to his instrument while the other guys are not.  And this isn't anything new, it's been going on for as long as I can remember.  I have no problem bitching about James' abilities as a front-man, I think he's probably the worst ever, but I'd never say anything bad about his voice.  Do I hear flubs?  Sure.  But I think the way we expect him to be bad then cheer when he's good and then go right back to expecting the worst isn't cool.

Age, fatigue, long shows, injuries, environmental factors, and mileage aside, I think James kicks ass with what he's got and I appreciate him every time he goes out there and sings for us.

Well, James has the easiest instrument 

[BlobVanDam]

I wouldn't say it's the easiest instrument, but it presents completely different challenges to other instruments. The voice is much more susceptible to age, health, care, environmental variables, and requires more strict lifestyle choices to maintain that instrument.

JR's keyboard isn't going to be harder to play because he has a cold. JM's bass isn't going to sound off to the crowd because he's had to play several nights in a row after a long tour. JP isn't going to have trouble hitting a high note on a guitar by the end of a show. If JM hits a bum note, maybe 1% of people will notice. Not the case for JLB.
JLB is upfront, and under the most direct criticism being the frontman. He's 50 now, and is being compared to himself at age 30. I think that deserves a little bit of slack now and again! That's not an excuse, just the reality that we judge him to a pretty high standard.

[adastra]

I wouldn't say it's the easiest instrument, but it presents completely different challenges to other instruments. The voice is much more susceptible to age, health, care, environmental variables, and requires more strict lifestyle choices to maintain that instrument.

JR's keyboard isn't going to be harder to play because he has a cold. JM's bass isn't going to sound off to the crowd because he's had to play several nights in a row after a long tour. JP isn't going to have trouble hitting a high note on a guitar by the end of a show. If JM hits a bum note, maybe 1% of people will notice. Not the case for JLB.
JLB is upfront, and under the most direct criticism being the frontman. He's 50 now, and is being compared to himself at age 30. I think that deserves a little bit of slack now and again! That's not an excuse, just the reality that we judge him to a pretty high standard.

True,  James does a great job.. But i'll say this again; I hope that next DT album will have songs that are more suitable for James's mature voice.. slower and softer, ya know

[BlobVanDam]

I think Impermanent Resonance utilized his voice very well. I don't think they need to limit what they do with him.

[Rodni Demental]

Honestly, I know it's relative but I really wouldn't say that vocals are an easy 'instrument' per se. I mean some instruments are hard to get the hang of, but once you understand the patterns, not as difficult to improve upon (piano imo), some are easy to learn, hard to master (guitar?). Some people claim that vocals are a 'gift', as in, it is what it is and if you can't sing you can't sing, and some people just can. I strongly disagree with this assumption and believe anyone can train their vocal chords and learn to sing. But it requires one to truly be in touch with themselves to express the qualities of their voice comfortably and naturally, and I think this aspect is possibly more important than vigorous and intensive training (not to dismiss these methods). Some people simply can do this more naturally so they can just sing and it might seem easy for them, some people need to learn how to relax and not tense up and not have to completely control every aspect of the voice, they need to let the sound flow and vibrate naturally. Most of the people I know that can't sing, truly believe they can't sing so they don't even try. I think vocals CAN be easier to learn than some people believe but I wouldn't ever say it's easier to learn than any other instrument, and certainly not the easiest.