DT was AMAZING tonight!!!!
How was James?
So...
I actually thought he was pretty good. There are only a couple of clips so far on youtube including..
TCOT..full
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNQ-UYexovkBITS...partial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gR_n3iT95M"lip synch part" at 2:00
Overall, he was way better than the first few shows. His voice seems to have gained some strength over the last few weeks. The show was pretty loud and maybe masked some things, but I was really focusing on James, especially with all of the controversy. He seemed a bit more goofy on stage, more than usual. But kind of cool, actually. I thought he did a great job, and definitely held up his part of the deal.
The canned backing vocals were really subtle, but they were there. I'm on record as being totally against them, but what are you gonna do at this point? They've crossed that line. But they were not in anyway overpowering, and did not detract from the show.
The above clip of BITS shows that the shenanigans during the chorus are still going on. He did seem to be singing live over the canned lead vocals, or maybe he was trying to harmonize with them. I kind of think that's what he was actually doing, putting his finger in his ear. Still, I just think this is a bad look, and I don't understand why they'd risk the scorn that this brings.
Also, I was thinking about the click track thing...This really doesn't bother me. I mean, they ARE PLAYING the music LIVE aren't they. This is some complicated shit, especially The Alien. I'd be shocked if this song is played again after this tour. Sure, everything sounds like the record, but holy shit, the record is amazing. But actually, it doesn't sound like the record at all. The mix is different, the live musical instruments are different. Mangini can't help but put fills in constantly (not a complaint). The only constant is the pace.
EDIT:
The other thig I forgot to mention was just how awesome AVFTTOTW was. Holy shit, that was fucking epic. The intro, the outro, and everything in between. I've complained about the non climactic vocal ending, but live it's really not that noticeable. That outro just slayed. I loved the song to begin with, but it jumped up IMO.