I was at the Rome gig too, and I agree, he seemed pretty into it - especially as the night went on.
I've also never had a problem with his stage presence, I think it's perfect as it is. His singing, though, hasn't been that good for the last couple years/tours (probably since the 2015 tour) I really like him as part of the band, his vocals and overall contributions to DT, but seeing videos for the TA tour and now the last couple shows in Italy, he just can't reach lots of the notes and his phrasing is odd
He did pretty well on the ADToE and self-titled tours, and even sounded downright awesome at times. On The Astonishing tour, however, he definitely struggled a ton. We'll see how this tour pans out for him. Singing the Images and Words material was rough for him in a few spots, but overall, not too bad. Same goes for A Change of Seasons.
Same case as in the TA tour, he seems to be struggling with certain sections from different songs. That middle section from TTT, for example, sounded awful, just like that section from Lord Nafaryus.
Again, not a Labrie hater here, but we can't deny he's been having a hard time in live performances for the last couple of years
Check out the clips from the Zurich show - he sounded pretty damn awesome throughout.
Are you legally deaf?
No, are you an asshole?
Yes. At least one of us admits what we are.
Okay, both of you guys obviously need a break from the forums if you cannot address issues in a more respectful manner--both toward each other and, Prog Snob specifically, toward the band. Because this sort of thing has become too common, and I have gotten complaints about these posts and some others that I am going to look into, I feel I have no choice but to temporarily ban the two of you and warn you that further posts along these lines may result in being banned permanently from the community.
I feel the need to remind us all of the rules and to put them into perspective. As relevant to this issue:
12. Insults or senseless bashing of the current or former band members of Dream Theater and/or their music will not be tolerated. Honest, open critique is always allowed, provided it is constructive and does not cross the line and become bashing, belittling, etc.
I think most of us who have been here any length of time
should be able to draw the line between fair critique and criticism that crosses the line. As we so often say, it isn't necessarily what you say, but
how you say it.
I feel that it bears repeating that nobody on this site or even the band members themselves feel that they are perfect or that they are beyond any critique or criticism whatsoever. But that said, critique should be tactful and should be fair, both in content and in tone. Keep in mind that, even though the band members are public figures and have put themselves and their performances out there in the public domain, and even though this is a
discussion forum where we are allowed to discuss all points of view, that doesn't mean anything and everything goes and that discussion can just be a "free-for-all." And that doesn't mean that comments that, while they might
technically appear to be in compliance with the rules, aren't still out of bounds because they go too far and unfairly critique people who are artists and actual human beings who perform
for our enjoyment. So please keep these things in mind when posting. This forum
mostly gets that. But every now and then, we start to get too loose and toe the line too closely, and I and the moderators need to remind.