It’s funny what people care about though. I could care less if James hits any notes live. I’m only going to see him once a year at most anyways. I’ll be listening to the studio albums forever.
I would much rather James belt it out on the studio albums and make them as great as they can be. Regardless of how that impacts the live shows.
What's funny about the audience wanting to hear a solid performance? If the lead vocalist is off it's disappointing.
The want of hearing a solid performance from JLB is not going to be fulfilled. What I found odd about the past tour was his use of that distortion effect on his vocals. That's what I did not like during the live shows. He sounds amazing without it and I personally would like to not hear any vocal effects that can change his vocal tone. Especially if it's something like distortion to make him sound more "gritty". It didn't work and it came across a bit grating.
But his vocals are a hit or miss live and it depends on how he feels, how his voice is working for the day, the environment, rest, the amount of songs sung and how difficult those songs are for the anatomy in vocals.
Most vocalists do not sing as much complex songs as JLB does, and those notes are high notes too that not many vocalists would be a good fit for Dream Theater without making them sound like your generic metal vocalist tone. Such as Russel Allen and Jeff Scott Soto.
Personally, I think the only vocalist capable of doing Dream Theater well in tone and style is Mike Mills.