In Defense of James LaBrie: A Manifesto

[wolfking]

yeah i had it backwards lol maybe he's only running a few kilos a day..

If he were doing 5kms back in the day, that's not a lot and certainly achievable and really usually only a 25-30 minute workout depending on pace.

[wolfking]

I run zero miles per day, which somehow equates to zero kgms.

0 kilograms and 0 kilometres!  Impressive.

[TAC]

0 kilograms and 0 kilometres!  Impressive.

lol! Damn metric system.

[wolfking]

   It's Hojos fault for calling kms, kilos.

[ZirconBlue]

I beg to differ on that. None of the options you've listed work, IMO (never been a fan of touring musicians to augment a band's sound, nor backing tracks). Best for the band to be more selective in the songs played, to down tune them, and to alter the vocal melodies to something that the vocalist can do, as well as for the vocalist to seek out help to figure out their weaknesses so that they can be addressed.

This.  Adjust the vocal melodies to suit his current abilities, and get a vocal coach to make sure he's doing the best he can with what he still has.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

  It's Hojos fault for calling kms, kilos.

it's always my fault!

[wolfking]

it's always my fault!

I'm glad we agree

[gborland]

never been a fan of touring musicians to augment a band's sound,

Ted Leonard added a lot to Transatlantic's live shows. Definitely the right decision.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

This.  Adjust the vocal melodies to suit his current abilities, and get a vocal coach to make sure he's doing the best he can with what he still has.

Isn't he already doing this? On the last two tours people were speculating that one of the reasons he was struggling was in part because he was playing with the vocal melodies too much.

[DAYAFTERDAY]

This is one of the better performances I've seen from the Dreamsonic tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJhybXTaHQ&ab_channel=Stefii714

Solitary Shell seems like a good fit for modern James, especially the verses, very comfortable for his ability. The higher parts in the chorus are a bit of a struggle and yes he's a bit flat, but it's not unlistenable and doesn't feel like he's hurting himself. Losing Time/Grand Finale is difficult to sing especially toward the end so I can forgive the off parts there but I actually think he did ok with it.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post I just watched this video and wanted to talk about it somewhere.

Does anyone have any other performances from 22' 23' where they think he sounded alright? Maybe I just think this is fine due to only having seen a couple of clips of 6:00 and Caught in a Web from this tour that just were a total mess.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

This is one of the better performances I've seen from the Dreamsonic tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJhybXTaHQ&ab_channel=Stefii714

Solitary Shell seems like a good fit for modern James, especially the verses, very comfortable for his ability. The higher parts in the chorus are a bit of a struggle and yes he's a bit flat, but it's not unlistenable and doesn't feel like he's hurting himself. Losing Time/Grand Finale is difficult to sing especially toward the end so I can forgive the off parts there but I actually think he did ok with it.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post I just watched this video and wanted to talk about it somewhere.

Does anyone have any other performances from 22' 23' where they think he sounded alright? Maybe I just think this is fine due to only having seen a couple of clips of 6:00 and Caught in a Web from this tour that just were a total mess.

Great performance, the only thing I noticed was he sang "Learned to talk and talk on time"

If that's the only flaw in an otherwise great performance, I think it goes without saying that our guy is still THE GUY

[Schurftkut]

i always hated that MP would really speed up SS live that would make the vocals sound rushed, but i really don't think that's a great performance even with the tempo being proper. It's like he's missing a lot of body and warmth in his vocals live. Something like fucking up a lyric like that doesn't bother me really 

[crystalstars17]

If that's the only flaw in an otherwise great performance, I think it goes without saying that our guy is still THE GUY

I concur! ✨

[WilliamMunny]

I concur! ✨

Me as well. Definitely a good showing from JLB that night.

Honestly, at this point, with how many months have passed, I am done looking back on the past two (admittedly shaky) tours.

What matters is how the band sounds next. JLB, in particular, can only worry about the next album/show/tour album. These videos are the past, and there is nothing that he, or anyone in DT can do about it now.

That said, I refuse to discount the next tour because of the last. The band has given me too much over these past three decades, so they've earned that right in my book. I'm going to assume good things for the upcoming album and tour, and I'm pretty sure the band and James are doing the same.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Me as well. Definitely a good showing from JLB that night.

Honestly, at this point, with how many months have passed, I am done looking back on the past two (admittedly shaky) tours.

What matters is how the band sounds next. JLB, in particular, can only worry about the next album/show/tour album. These videos are the past, and there is nothing that he, or anyone in DT can do about it now.

That said, I refuse to discount the next tour because of the last. The band has given me too much over these past three decades, so they've earned that right in my book. I'm going to assume good things for the upcoming album and tour, and I'm pretty sure the band and James are doing the same.

Great point, and I think the wind being at their backs with MP's return means all 5 of them, not just JLB, will be reinvigorated

[ZirconBlue]

Isn't he already doing this? On the last two tours people were speculating that one of the reasons he was struggling was in part because he was playing with the vocal melodies too much.

He's always done adjustments on the fly, but I mean writing and rehearsing a new, consistent vocal part that he can reproduce night after night.

[geeeemo]

All I know is that I pay attention to the live performances when I am at the live performances. (and listen to the official ones)
Of the 5 shows I saw the last 2 tours, I enjoyed them all immensely. James isn't like he used to be, but its still great for me. Even my
son, who has been critical of James had no complaints even at DreamSonic we were at where I thought it wasn't the best I had seen.
The shows are fun, the songs are enjoyable, and having someone else sing would just ruin it for me.

[WilliamMunny]

He's always done adjustments on the fly, but I mean writing and rehearsing a new, consistent vocal part that he can reproduce night after night.

That's my take as well–the last few shows he worked on singing "Pull Me Under" in a lower register, and the results were immediately better. I think, had he rehearsed it like that before the tour, the song would've generated little to no debate.

Ray Alder is proof positive that fans will embrace a singer's soulful reinvention of a melody, as long as it's delivered confidently (and in key).

[Dream Team]

Right. Even if he's barely tolerable on this next tour, some here will make it sound like it's the second coming of Robert Plant but geeemo's point is legit - it DOESN'T matter when you attend the show, most of his problems aren't as noticeable in that environment. It might suck later for the DVD vocal correction guy, but I've been to many DT shows and never been distracted by his vocals not being good and I expect to enjoy the next show as well.

[jammindude]

He's always done adjustments on the fly, but I mean writing and rehearsing a new, consistent vocal part that he can reproduce night after night.

Exactly. Making things up on the fly sometimes works, and sometimes sometimes doesn’t. Because without rehearsing it to make sure of what works and what doesn’t you’re playing the guessing game in front of your entire audience. You need to have these factors worked out in rehearsal, and find out what does work before you go out and present it to the general public.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

It could be me coming off of a decade of jam band touring but I like when they improvise things like that - even vocal melodies. It gives the performance uniqueness, it shows the artist is willing to play around with their art a bit. One of the things that turned me away from prog metal and metal in general in recent years is how static, clean, perfect, backing tracked, etc. everything about the show is. I like when there's mistakes, I like when the singer tries something weird and it does or doesn't work. It's performance art, and it doesn't have to be "good" 100% of the time to be interesting, and fun.

If I wanted a perfect recreation of the studio album, I would listen to the studio album, or watch some tiktok teen perfectly re-create it. Give me something interesting live! As someone else said, even if it's a "miss", in the moment you probably won't even notice anyway


EDIT: The most egregious example of this with bands for me has always been Between the Buried and Me. I love their studio stuff, and have seen them live a few times, but everytime it's like they're just there to perfectly recreate the album note-for-note (which is, to be clear, an impressive feat, just not necessarily what I am looking for live). Even worse, it feels like EVERY BTBAM tour is an "album anniversary" tour. When are we just gonna get a setlist with some surprises in it out of them? lol

[Herrick]

It could be me coming off of a decade of jam band touring but I like when they improvise things like that - even vocal melodies. It gives the performance uniqueness, it shows the artist is willing to play around with their art a bit. One of the things that turned me away from prog metal and metal in general in recent years is how static, clean, perfect, backing tracked, etc. everything about the show is. I like when there's mistakes, I like when the singer tries something weird and it does or doesn't work. It's performance art, and it doesn't have to be "good" 100% of the time to be interesting, and fun.

If I wanted a perfect recreation of the studio album, I would listen to the studio album, or watch some tiktok teen perfectly re-create it. Give me something interesting live! As someone else said, even if it's a "miss", in the moment you probably won't even notice anyway


EDIT: The most egregious example of this with bands for me has always been Between the Buried and Me. I love their studio stuff, and have seen them live a few times, but everytime it's like they're just there to perfectly recreate the album note-for-note (which is, to be clear, an impressive feat, just not necessarily what I am looking for live). Even worse, it feels like EVERY BTBAM tour is an "album anniversary" tour. When are we just gonna get a setlist with some surprises in it out of them? lol

I think when a singer has as much difficulty as LaBrie, they should just stick to what's on the album or some version that they can consistently pull off live.

I like seeing a perfect live performance of the studio version because it shows they can pull it off. But I can understand how that doesn't appeal to everyone. I wonder if Dream Theater will throw in some surprises and stuff now that Portnoy has returned.