As long as James wants to be up there, then so do I. I would rather go see James performing imperfectly than someone else nailing it. I want to go see Dream Theater, not someone performing Dream Theater. And James is DT.
I agree with a lot of this but also disagree with a fair amount. I don't want to see James performing imperfectly if the imperfection is a result of his inability to handle the material.
Comparisons may be unfair, but I think this one is apt. Ray Alder of Fates Warning and and was a contemporary of James. Their vocal styles are and always have been quite similar. Ray is a few years younger (and, like James, not the original singer for the band). I saw FW four times between 1989-94. The first time, Ray was bad. I met the band in the parking lot, and Ray was smoking (i.e., actively trying to damage his instrument). JLB never did that, but he did suffer the well known vocal chord injury in the mid-'90s. After the 1994 show, I didn't see FW again until 2010 and then again in 2013. The 2010 show was a reunion of the lineup from their best known album Parallels, and the 2013 show was in support of their first new release in nine years. I had never heard Ray sound better than he did in 2010 and 2013. Listen to FW's 2018 live release, and he sounds incredible.
I cannot agree at all that he sounds incredible. He sounds fine and I'm not a huge Fates Warning fan so I dont have a ton of skin in the game but I just don't think this is a great comparison.
BTW, James does alter some of the lines now and did quite a bit for the I&W 2017 tour. I think they sound pretty good and don't mind it at all.
And some people didn't take all too well with him changing those vocal parts.
I wouldn't go to the lengths to say that the band should not play certain songs if JLB can't hit those notes. I wouldn't mind if he changes up the melodies to better suit his vocal style, while still keeping in key with the song. I may not agree with the choices he makes, but I don't care much because there is more to the song then JLB's vocals.
I didn't and don't really care if the band/JLB decides to plug in vocals while JLB mimes to give his vocals enough time to rest so he can actually hit the more tougher notes live. For me, as long as the music is still live, I don't care if the vocals are not. It's due to how difficult it is to sing consistently from night to night, compared to an instrument that is easy to properly keep in tune night to night.
One good example of a struggling vocalist would be Joe Walsh. Look at what Kansas as a band decided to do, and they sound amazing now. At least JLB isn't that bad.
It's also how the band perceives how the audience listens to the band. If they perceive the audience treats them as musical virtuosos who are perfect at their craft of music, their live shows must reflect that precision, this includes the vocals. I feel if the the band and the audience recognizes that the vocals of JLB are not how they used to be due to whatever, could be the effects of aging, who knows but JLB, then the band wouldn't resort to piping in vocals, and letting JLB just sing the song however he chooses even if it's lowering the melody down immensely.
But i'm not really invested into this because we do not know the reasons for why they are deciding to do this.