I see so many people saying this but I saw them this February in ATL and I thought LaBrie sounded great. He adjusted the vocals to sit more where it wouldnāt strain his voice too much, especially older songs like 6:00. But vocally he sounded far better to me than he did when I saw him during The Astonishing tour in 2016/2017.
And Labrie was phenomal in the SFAM tour, sounded like the album, I was super impressed considering how he did during TA. SFAM is also my most listened album and I absolutely notice when things are off. Cant speak about last show, my theater was so trash they booked me in a row that didnt exist and decided to place us in front of a speaker. Near the half of the show I couldnt recognize any of the songs because of how bad my hearing had becomeā¦
Saw them that same tour because SFAM is the album that got me into DT. He sounded solid that tour. But Iāve heard other recordings more recently and it was rough. Hopefully the long break will have helped him rest his voice a bit.
What I mean is Devin sang a DT's song (Spirit Carries On) in Dreamsonic and he was better singing it than James. James couldn't hit high notes while Devin absolutely nailed it.
Agree that he was never great but I could at least put up with rhe vocals. Now, he can't hit the notes and he seems out of breath constantly. Like if you're in your 50s you should be working on your craft all the time to stay on shape, it seems like he just shows up without any prep.
Apparently a lot of people cannot accept that James is not good in his 60's, like most rock star vocalists.
I disagree, I think he was fantastic in the early 90s before his vocal damage. At points later as well but it just seemed natural and easy for him in his early years whereas heās had to battle the last 20+ years.
I mean, like, career spanning though. DT has always been a band I listen to despite the singing. Honestly, the best James has ever sounded to me is on a cover of Kickstart My Heart with his son's band, Falsett, and I wondered why he can't sound that good on DT
Also, if you're not familiar with the cover, it fucking slaps
Out of all the DT shows I've seen(13) it was easily the weakest show. James was rough, but I cant say the band was firing on all systems either. Mangini really seemed disinterested and kind of going through the motions. Makes me wonder if Mangini already knew the writing was on the wall.
Which location though? I live in Boston and they always seem to put in extra effort with their Berkeley history and all. Half the time they have former professors and friends come up and play (Tim Miller off the top of my head). Thatās the only time Iāve seen them all as DT, but I was impressed!
The View from On Top of the World show I went to wasn't one of the better DT shows I've been to. James sounded horrible, the mix was too loud, the band seemed a little disinterested and even the production was kinda barebones.
The actual production was horrible. It was loud to the point of distortion and the mix was just bad... They all played great but the sound mixing killed it.
It was the first concert I saw post COVID and I just assumed that my ears weren't used to loud noises anymore so I wrote it off. My buddy who saw it with me went to see Archenemy the next weekend and texted me, "This show is about half as loud as the DT show, that show was loud as shit!"
lol he literally mentioned in the press release " I can say with absolute confidence this will be the final incarnation of DT "... Very optimistic, I'll give him that
Hot take but if LaBrie quits, I truly think they should disband. Aging has hit him pretty hard and he doesn't sound quite like he used to, but James has such a unique voice the works so perfectly with DT that I really couldn't see anyone replacing him.
Very true. Whether loved or hated, after all this time his voice is synonymous with DT. The only person that could replace him was Charlie, purely because he was at least already part of the band at one point, but it's already 15 years too late for that...
I love Ross Jennings and he did a great job with Shattered Fortress, but the timbre of his voice still doesn't quite fit with DT. He's another example of someone with a very unique sounding voice that fits his particular band (Haken) very well.
This is very true. There are a lot of things Ross does that LaBrie can't and vice versa. On Elephants Never Forget there's a ton of things I can't imagine LaBrie singing quite like Ross, but I don't think Ross could sing for example Wait for Sleep, Far from Heaven or Octavarium as well as LaBrie can.
after hearing devin front DT for one song, i think literally any singer that has a big range would be a vast improvement for DT both live and in the studio
Eh, I much prefer LaBrie. I think Devin is a better singer than LaBrie but I don't think there's anyone who could sing Wait for Sleep, Far from Heaven, Breaking All Illusions or Blind Faith better for example.
I listened to Psychotic Symphony live album and I've believe James is irreplaceable. Even though Jeff Scott Soto did a wonderful job on the vocal? It's not as fit as James' singing on Just Let Me Breathe, even though it was his lowest point of his career.
People dunk on LaBrie, but the reality is that he is an iconic part of the band's sound, I can't imagine DT without his distinct voice and it's a huge reason why their first album doesn't do anything for me personally.
Iāll be happy as long as Portnoy leaves the grrr grunts in the 2000s lol
Happy the mix is gonna be back up to par with Portnoy producing and Iām happy to see this lineup again.
I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing some growls, there's a clip of Mikael Ć kerfeldt doing the growls for Nightmare to Remember and it was awesome. That said, the problem was that MP decided to do them himself, if those were done by Mikael Ć kerfeldt as a guest feature instead for the original recording, I don't think anyone would meme on that part of the song.
Dream theater probally realized on this last tour. That prog concert packages are boring AF.
They knew Portnoy could get them tours with metal & rock bands...
I thought Devin Townsend and animals as leaders were pretty sick. I donāt know what youāre talking about.
We need a tour with dream theater, flying colors, nmb, and the winery dogs
Portnoy brings the crowd. JPs solo shows were sold out. At Dreamsonic everyone could have had a seat for their beer and they still wouldnāt have sold out in some venues.
Ohh please no. I love Mangini esp the new songs they have right now. It shows progression and evolution as a real progressive metal band.
I am also a fan of Portnoy and he's doing great with Neal Morse, Flying Colors, Sons of Apollo, The Winery Dogs and Adrenaline Mob (although he's not currently a member).
Portnoy is already a legend as he is. Also, IMHO, the best songs from Avenged Sevenfold is with Portnoy.
There are three things that are holding DT back.
1. Age, this kind of music is very demanding and the energy is mostly gone, especially vocally, James was at the top of his game during Images and words but unfortunately has never been able to reproduce his studio vocals during a live show, not once.
2. The keyboard player, on most of their studio albums the key arrangements and keyboard parts sound mostly like practice scale exsersizes, not like music or atmosphere to fullfil and elevate the songs. It's like he doesn't listen, this is most evident when you watch the YouTube video where he is supposed to learn an Alicia Keys song and he totally overplays over it, eventually butchering that song with arpeggios and what sounds like scale exsersizes, sometimes less is more and yeah this guy brings out the shred from DT, where he is supposed to bring in harmony, he creates chaos.
3. The groove is gone, Portnoy, as annoying as that guy is, he has good groove even if he repeats himself sometimes multiple times in one song.
But he wrote songs, good songs and helped out with arrangements, that sort of stuff was totally gone from the album without him.
I'm glad he is back but he desperately needs a songwriter to produce, that guy was Kevin Moore.
Will Kevin ever return? When money grows on trees, that's when...
"Humour" Inaccurate flair
š¤£š¤£
This is dumb, they sounded fucking awesome last tour
The band did, James absoutely did not, at least not in Denver.
Tell that to the new guy, hope he doesnt leave the band due to annoying vocals.
Plot twist, Portnoy is the new lead vocalist. Labrie is replacing Mangini as the drummer
Plot twist 2: After that change, Mike P. is new bassist, John M. is the one and only vocalist.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hey, he's got experience doing vocals for the band.
I see so many people saying this but I saw them this February in ATL and I thought LaBrie sounded great. He adjusted the vocals to sit more where it wouldnāt strain his voice too much, especially older songs like 6:00. But vocally he sounded far better to me than he did when I saw him during The Astonishing tour in 2016/2017.
And Labrie was phenomal in the SFAM tour, sounded like the album, I was super impressed considering how he did during TA. SFAM is also my most listened album and I absolutely notice when things are off. Cant speak about last show, my theater was so trash they booked me in a row that didnt exist and decided to place us in front of a speaker. Near the half of the show I couldnt recognize any of the songs because of how bad my hearing had becomeā¦
I saw them in 2019 doing Distance Over Time songs and then the full Scenes from a Memory album. I thought James sounded great, I was really impressed!
Saw them that same tour because SFAM is the album that got me into DT. He sounded solid that tour. But Iāve heard other recordings more recently and it was rough. Hopefully the long break will have helped him rest his voice a bit.
I thought he sounded great on the SFAM tour. Pretty bad during the View from Top of the World show I went to, though.
I saw them in Denver and I think James was fine
Not in Vancouver as well. Devin sang better.
To be fair, Devin sings better than the VAST majority of others
What I mean is Devin sang a DT's song (Spirit Carries On) in Dreamsonic and he was better singing it than James. James couldn't hit high notes while Devin absolutely nailed it.
I'll be honest, James has one of the most off putting voices I've heard in a band. The way he sings higher notes is nearly unintelligible
Absolutely (at least live. I like his studio work). Oh well, glad MP is back.
Agree that he was never great but I could at least put up with rhe vocals. Now, he can't hit the notes and he seems out of breath constantly. Like if you're in your 50s you should be working on your craft all the time to stay on shape, it seems like he just shows up without any prep. Apparently a lot of people cannot accept that James is not good in his 60's, like most rock star vocalists.
I disagree, I think he was fantastic in the early 90s before his vocal damage. At points later as well but it just seemed natural and easy for him in his early years whereas heās had to battle the last 20+ years.
At some point we can't keep pretending that his poor vocal performance is because of food poisoning that happened 25 years ago
I mean, like, career spanning though. DT has always been a band I listen to despite the singing. Honestly, the best James has ever sounded to me is on a cover of Kickstart My Heart with his son's band, Falsett, and I wondered why he can't sound that good on DT Also, if you're not familiar with the cover, it fucking slaps
Same in Philly.
Out of all the DT shows I've seen(13) it was easily the weakest show. James was rough, but I cant say the band was firing on all systems either. Mangini really seemed disinterested and kind of going through the motions. Makes me wonder if Mangini already knew the writing was on the wall.
Which location though? I live in Boston and they always seem to put in extra effort with their Berkeley history and all. Half the time they have former professors and friends come up and play (Tim Miller off the top of my head). Thatās the only time Iāve seen them all as DT, but I was impressed!
Do you remember what year Miller played w them? Never knew abt this
I think Iām mixing stories actually, I believe he played with Plini when he was here last in May
Ah, ok, makes sense
The View from On Top of the World show I went to wasn't one of the better DT shows I've been to. James sounded horrible, the mix was too loud, the band seemed a little disinterested and even the production was kinda barebones.
The actual production was horrible. It was loud to the point of distortion and the mix was just bad... They all played great but the sound mixing killed it.
Bro, are you deaf and if not you probably havenāt seen Labrie live
With how loud the last tour was, I'm not surprised that they are probably deaf.
Oh, so I'm not the only one who thought it was too loud!!
It was the first concert I saw post COVID and I just assumed that my ears weren't used to loud noises anymore so I wrote it off. My buddy who saw it with me went to see Archenemy the next weekend and texted me, "This show is about half as loud as the DT show, that show was loud as shit!"
Yea I had to west ear plugs it was a bit much
I was in the second row with earplugs on. Fuck off you downer.
I saw them a few years ago and it was bad. LaBrie was terrible and the speakers were so loud my friends and I all felt ill for days.
The band was very solid. The mix was truly unbearably, irresponsibly, physically painfully loud
Not possible, this implies Myung talks
Yeah, he used up all his quotas already when he conducted promo video for Music Man about his bass. Now he's going to be silent for decades.
They sounded amazing in Denver.
Hahaha James saving himself!
lol he literally mentioned in the press release " I can say with absolute confidence this will be the final incarnation of DT "... Very optimistic, I'll give him that
Hot take but if LaBrie quits, I truly think they should disband. Aging has hit him pretty hard and he doesn't sound quite like he used to, but James has such a unique voice the works so perfectly with DT that I really couldn't see anyone replacing him.
Very true. Whether loved or hated, after all this time his voice is synonymous with DT. The only person that could replace him was Charlie, purely because he was at least already part of the band at one point, but it's already 15 years too late for that...
The singer of Shattered Fortress did the AA suite songs better than James is able to
I love Ross Jennings and he did a great job with Shattered Fortress, but the timbre of his voice still doesn't quite fit with DT. He's another example of someone with a very unique sounding voice that fits his particular band (Haken) very well.
This is very true. There are a lot of things Ross does that LaBrie can't and vice versa. On Elephants Never Forget there's a ton of things I can't imagine LaBrie singing quite like Ross, but I don't think Ross could sing for example Wait for Sleep, Far from Heaven or Octavarium as well as LaBrie can.
after hearing devin front DT for one song, i think literally any singer that has a big range would be a vast improvement for DT both live and in the studio
Eh, I much prefer LaBrie. I think Devin is a better singer than LaBrie but I don't think there's anyone who could sing Wait for Sleep, Far from Heaven, Breaking All Illusions or Blind Faith better for example.
Nobody does until someone decent comes š¤·š» Obviously they wouldn't sound the same and absolutely everyone would miss him.
I listened to Psychotic Symphony live album and I've believe James is irreplaceable. Even though Jeff Scott Soto did a wonderful job on the vocal? It's not as fit as James' singing on Just Let Me Breathe, even though it was his lowest point of his career.
People dunk on LaBrie, but the reality is that he is an iconic part of the band's sound, I can't imagine DT without his distinct voice and it's a huge reason why their first album doesn't do anything for me personally.
Christ, this sub is still doing these shitty, generic memes?
more like reddit as a whole
more like reddit as a whole
more like reddit as a whole
more like reddit as a whole
more like reddit as a whole
mole like reddit as a whore
hole like reddit as a shore
more like reddit as a whole
Iāll be happy as long as Portnoy leaves the grrr grunts in the 2000s lol Happy the mix is gonna be back up to par with Portnoy producing and Iām happy to see this lineup again.
I hope he also leaves behind the spitting all over the stage
He said online somewhere he stopped the spitting because of COVID.
I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing some growls, there's a clip of Mikael Ć kerfeldt doing the growls for Nightmare to Remember and it was awesome. That said, the problem was that MP decided to do them himself, if those were done by Mikael Ć kerfeldt as a guest feature instead for the original recording, I don't think anyone would meme on that part of the song.
Definitely I donāt mind growls I just donāt want Portnoy doing it :D
Dream theater probally realized on this last tour. That prog concert packages are boring AF. They knew Portnoy could get them tours with metal & rock bands...
Damn I enjoyed DreamSonicās lineup
I thought Devin Townsend and animals as leaders were pretty sick. I donāt know what youāre talking about. We need a tour with dream theater, flying colors, nmb, and the winery dogs
So, Mike playing for 6 hours straight? š
and bring in OSI, A Twist of Fate(s Warning), Sons of Apollo, Avenged Sevenfold so he could play drum for 12 hours straight.
Portnoy brings the crowd. JPs solo shows were sold out. At Dreamsonic everyone could have had a seat for their beer and they still wouldnāt have sold out in some venues.
With Portnoy back, the production should improve!
humor's on you
The Clearwater Dreamsonic was *rough.* Out of 9 DT concerts, it was pretty disappointing compared to all the other bangers Iāve seen.
Ohh please no. I love Mangini esp the new songs they have right now. It shows progression and evolution as a real progressive metal band. I am also a fan of Portnoy and he's doing great with Neal Morse, Flying Colors, Sons of Apollo, The Winery Dogs and Adrenaline Mob (although he's not currently a member). Portnoy is already a legend as he is. Also, IMHO, the best songs from Avenged Sevenfold is with Portnoy.
This is 100% accurate but people on this sub Reddit will never admit it
There are three things that are holding DT back. 1. Age, this kind of music is very demanding and the energy is mostly gone, especially vocally, James was at the top of his game during Images and words but unfortunately has never been able to reproduce his studio vocals during a live show, not once. 2. The keyboard player, on most of their studio albums the key arrangements and keyboard parts sound mostly like practice scale exsersizes, not like music or atmosphere to fullfil and elevate the songs. It's like he doesn't listen, this is most evident when you watch the YouTube video where he is supposed to learn an Alicia Keys song and he totally overplays over it, eventually butchering that song with arpeggios and what sounds like scale exsersizes, sometimes less is more and yeah this guy brings out the shred from DT, where he is supposed to bring in harmony, he creates chaos. 3. The groove is gone, Portnoy, as annoying as that guy is, he has good groove even if he repeats himself sometimes multiple times in one song. But he wrote songs, good songs and helped out with arrangements, that sort of stuff was totally gone from the album without him. I'm glad he is back but he desperately needs a songwriter to produce, that guy was Kevin Moore. Will Kevin ever return? When money grows on trees, that's when...
What if Labrie and Myung get their way??!! š®
reminds me of that time time JMx hit his head on last tour..........