LSFNY is JLB's best recorded live performance.
Yes, I know - his range was severely limited during this period, especially live, and it didn't come close to being fully recovered until around about the Octavarium tour. But think about it - this show came at the very end of a long tour and the setlist is one of the most epic and demanding in the band's history, and the guy just belts out every single song with absolutely no restraint. Vocally, the guy was going through absolute hell and yet for some reason, here, his voice has a wonderful, raw, spontaneous and aggressive quality that I'm not sure he has replicated before or since, with the exception of maybe LATM or certain other shows on the I&W tour. And it's not like we're even talking about your standard DT show here - we're talking about possibly the longest and most vocally demanding in DT's history (and bear in mind DT were in the habit of frequently rotating setlists during this period). All of SFAM, followed by a brutal second set including the likes of Metropolis Pt. 1, The Mirror, Another Day, A Mind Beside Itself, Learning to Live and A Change of Seasons in it's entirity. He does all of that, and he even has enough vocal strength to ironically apologise about the short set at the very end!
Another thing that makes this performance "especially special" is that on a couple of occasions, JLB knows he cannot possibly hit certain notes, so he'll do something even more awesome to compensate. Best example of this is in Learning to Live - JLB knows he cannot hit
that F#, so he doesn't even attempt to go for it, opting instead to sing a slightly lower harmony. But does he leave it at that? Does he heck - he sings an incredible harmony with JP's guitar lead in the following section that acts as the climax of the song, and indeed the second set, resulting in what is for my money the most chill-inducing live moment of DT's career - or if not that, perhaps second only to his duet with Theresa Thompson of TSCO in the first set.
Another example of where James doesn't quite hit the high notes is The Mirror. Listen to the "I spent so long trusting in you etc." line - clearly he doesn't "nail" it as per the record, but listen to what he does instead. Does it make the song any less awesome? Does it heck - if anything, I think I actually prefer this version to the studio version.
Bottom line is this - what James lacks in range in this show, he more than makes up for with the sheer, brutal passion with which he delivers his vocals in this, one of DT's longest and most demanding shows to date. That's why if I needed to convince anyone of what a truly amazing vocalist JLB is, I wouldn't show them Score or BTFW - it would be Live Scenes all the way