Can James LaBrie Still hack it? - What the fans are saying
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- #dreamtheater
Following an awesome response in comments on a previous video I made regarding James Labrie and his vocal performance at the 02 Arena at the opening night of Dream Theater's 40th Anniversary tour last year, I've decided to offer a sort of conclusion based on the feedback but also on the reality of the situation as far as the band, and the broader fan base is concerned.
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#dreamtheater
Following an awesome response in comments on a previous video I made regarding James Labrie and his vocal performance at the 02 Arena at the opening night of Dream Theater's 40th Anniversary tour last year, I've decided to offer a sort of conclusion based on the feedback but also on the reality of the situation as far as the band, and the broader fan base is concerned.
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James is the voice of DT, period. Don’t like it? Don’t listen to it.
That can be arranged. Don't you worry, dear boy.
@@jasonbodden8816 I’m not worried! I’m just shocked by such stupidity!
@@bassankarame You mean honesty and being realistic? Yes, shocking LOL!! Labrie sounds boring as hell now. Think what you want. He sings the same 6 or 7 notes on every album now and can't do the old stuff justice. I'm a DT fan but I'm not a blind fanboy.
I was at a DT concert for the 40th anniversary in Brazil. It was my first DT show.
I noticed that he exited the stage at every single opportunity, only coming back to sing his parts, and still tried to cheer up the audience with lazy claps and such.
He didn't sing too badly, but I found his attitude to be a bit disrespectful. Of course it would be fine if it was some health issue, but it didn't look like it.
Thankfully the other members of the band carried it. Especially Mike and Rudess, they were incredible.
I know he does have a habit of walking off during the instrumental sections. I always thought it was a case of letting the guys take centre stage. Like a theater production you know?
Maybe now he's in his 60s though, perhaps he's having a sit down more often...
I can see why it might be annoying though to some audience members especially if it's become excessive.
Ian Gillian does the same in Deep Purple. Not shocking...
He’s always exited the stage during the instrumental sections to let the other guys take centre stage, so don’t consider it to be disrespectful. Realistically what’s he supposed to do when the other guys are playing their instrumental sections?
@nicrow1369 I thought he meant he was doing it more frequently than before perhaps. But yes, he has traditionally left the lads to take centre stage when the instrumental sections happen.
Personally I've never had an issue with it.
Well, It was my first time, so I didn't know it is just something that he does.
Makes sense.
Been a fan for decades....i would have no problem seeing and hearing a backing vocalist on stage for hitting the high notes.
I don't think a lot of fans would have problems with additional personal on stage because I think they attract the sort of people that are actually pretty open to that.
I think it's more a case of them wanting to keep the onstage chemistry amongst the 5 of them because that's their own preference. I can understand that after 40 years of having it that way.
Doogie white who played with Ritchie Blackmore..he's the man to replace lebrie...
I found these guys in '92 and have kept them at the top of my best band list all these years! Can't give them enough hearts! So happy to have seen them live on 02-02-2022 in Mesa AZ.
I've been following the band live on almost every tour since '93 and I defended him up until the self-titled album tour. My arguments were that it is normal for a singer to deteriorate with age, especially with the demanding material he had to perform. After 2014 though I noticed that he was often tired and his technique seemed to take a turn for the worst. The most comfortable material for his voice should have been Metropolis 2000, yet on that anniversary tour he was out of breath even on the quieter songs, so I felt like this was the end. Strangely he continued with performances that were atrocious to say the least. It pains me to admit that he needs to graciously take a final bow and let the band continue with someone that will deliver through the whole discography of the band.
That's interesting. Very detailed and nuanced observations. Somone else here said they'd noticed he's spending less and less time on the stage with the rest of the guys (not just going off during the long instrumental sections). That seems to support your observations about fatigue.
I am with you 100%. This is the guy who has given us 30 plus years. He's 61, give him a break. I heard the 02 videos on TH-cam. I knew that he would warm up slowly show after show. I am now one month away from their TH-cam Theater Los Angeles show late February. I believe that he will kill it by then. I myself am 62, and I say, let him sing! I saw Genesis in the early 90's, they transposed the keys even back then....I hated it. It ruins the songs that I have been listening to since the mid 70's. Genesis did some final shows with Phil in a chair. OK, God bless him, but they transposed the keys even lower. I didnt bother to go, the songs were unrecognizable. The new DT album will be out soon, they will tour that maybe late summer, enjoy the show guys!
Yeah, it was sad watching Phil have to sit on a chair and perform. Did you watch the Drumeo special on Phil? Pretty cool.
He might be one of the best drummers most people don't know about. It's actually absurd how underrated he is.
I also felt the same way about transposing songs down from their original tuning to be disappointing, but I've gotten over it overtime. While I cannot say that I always loved the result (some I actually did, but most is meh) at least that has much more integrity than lip-syncing, overdubbing your DVD's and being over-reliant on backing-tracks. Plus, once you realize that good singing isn't about how high you can reach but the emotions you project, you'll learn to be appreciative of it. But I'll have to credit this on Labrie himself, his performances are sooo bad (not just being unable to hit notes, his beautiful tone that made him standout in DT auditions is just gone) that he actually made me appreciative of the other singers who opted to downtune their classic hits.
Look.... I discovered Dream Theater in 1993. Labrie's vocals were 1 of 5 reasons I absolutely fell in love. I used to be able to sing along with about 90% of his vocals. ( I'm proud of that, BTW :) ) Anyway, like with James, I got older, and over time I found it to be more and more difficult to sing along with my favorite songs, Dream Theater or otherwise. It's actually pretty disheartening. Kind of depressing personally, if you will. James is 10 years older than me, and has been aggressively singing day in and day out for 30+ years, so obviously his ability has seriously dwindled. When I saw them in concert a year ago, it kinda broke my heart to hear him sing. He has to know he can't keep up anymore. He loves what he does, and I can only imagine how hard it is for him to entertain the idea of passing the torch to someone else. He may not have founded DT, but he is every bit as much DT as Portnoy, Petrucci, & Myung. He IS Dream Theater's voice. But ultimately, time is no ones friend. As much as it breaks my heart to say it, I feel like when this current tour is over, he should consider stepping down, for the benefit of the band and the fans...and to preserve his legacy without everyone cringing that he tried to hold on for too long.
I was at a Dt concert for 40th anniversary in Finland and it was awesome! James sounded so good, I mean better than in years! London gig was terrible but gig by gig it got better!
I'm glad to hear that. I was pretty confident after hearing the 02 footage that that wasn't his baseline. I had a feeling it would only take 2,maybe 3 shows tops before he'd be at what I imagine is his normal performance level. Which is pretty good although not to everyone's personal taste.
It seems like that's what transpired.
I have been a prog guy for decades. I have listened to Dream theater since they first released images and words. That album was such a great Album with James killing it. I remember when he lost his voice I believe during the Awake tour. He thought he was done and was going to depart but John talked him out of it. He kept singing and at that time I remember him hanging on to Falsetto with very little pronunciation. I understand why and that was to get past the losing of his voice and bringing it back. The way he sang drove me nuts at that time. It was so annoying while listening to Russel Allen and the singer Michael Erikson from Circus Maximus who are both amazing singers. I stopped listening to Dream theater because of Labrie. But later on, I listened again and I was pleasantly surprised at how he pulled his voice back together. It was still with some precaution how he sang but I was so happy to know he was back. It takes a lot to do that. Its actually almost unheard of but he did it. He deserves a lot of credit for that. fast forward to the recent 40th anniversary shows, I saw the one where he just couldn't hit the notes on Metropolis 1.. I found out that Mike was so excited to be back and he always wrote the set lists. I think Mike should have thought this out better and not put in the songs that may have contributed to James losing his voice back then. your vocal chords are not a treadmill that you try harder if you can't hit the notes. It is a real science to sing like that. although I am more of a Russell Allen fan I admire James for all he has been through and he is the voice of dream Theater. I think the set lists should be reviewed before doing songs from 35 years ago. You can play guitar as hard as you want but the voice makes changes like life itself, that you can not control. James deserves a lot of respect and not to be bashed and instead be celebrated as a great singer that will always be to look up at.
I think that's a fair way of looking at it. This far along in the journey of those 5 guys, it's become about more than whether or not he can deliver perfect performances of every single song from the entire catalogue. That's why I'm prepared to give him some understanding and adjust my expectations a bit.
A lot of times he's singing pretty well across what are very long and technical sets at the age of 61. He's definitely got my respect even if it doesn't go perfectly on the night.
I can understand people's frustrations but I also try to see it from the band's perspective.
@@Masterlessmusic I agree. I think this was a mistake on the Band and maybe even James for not seeing that playing songs that far back could only cause more problems. He has done great after losing his voice before but its disappointing that he still doesn't know his voice as much as he should. This is one reason I am Russell Allan fan. I saw them live a few times. Even though I am a guitarist, Russell really jumped out at me with the control he has. He sang everything effortlessly. He knows his voice and even gives it some room. I think James may have ran his voice to the edge back then and trying that again 40 years later was a big mistake. I wish him the best and hope he pulls out of this one and as a band, they have all learned from this. Its one of those setting up for failure type of things. Keep up the cool posts man!!
what does even mean for music to be "gay"? Is it a music that likes other music of the same genre?
It means it's gay bro.
It means it's gay bro.
🤣 Nice one 👏
It's happy?
You don't understand, LaBrie had a food poisoning in 1993, so you can't critizise his voice ever.
Are you being sarcastic? (It's hard to tell in text.) 😂
@@Masterlessmusic Sarcastic :D But that's pretty much the excuse fanatics still say. Ok, so his voice is messed up? Maybe he should quit, then? Like, 20 years ago? If a runner breaks his leg, he can't keep running?
He hits a C in midnight Messiah
Do you mean on the studio recording? If so this isn't about that, it's about his average delivery live across a set.
That's what the initial fuss on social media when they kicked off their anniversary tour was about. In the Studio nobody who matters (as in everyone who doesn't hate James) thinks he does a bad job.
This is solely about his average performance night to night and people's experience of that over the years.
@ he ain't 20 anymore but this is his best tour since Along For The Ride.
Yeah you are right, i don't like trasnposed version of songs either, nice point !!!
Hetfield got his growl back years ago
Sort of. If you look at their footage regularly, you see it comes and goes . He's been more consistent since 72 Seasons though to be fair.
Been a fan since '92 and in my opinion only, Labrie's singing was peak at the albums awake and a change of seasons, but then he severed a vocal chord and it wasn't quite the same since. His voice was still pretty good, but not what it once was.
Live... It suffered A LOT! If you listen to once in a lifetime... Yes the sound guy SUUUUUCKED, but Labrie was Suuuuuuffering and you could hear it.
I saw them three times and didn't have any problems, but after falling into infinity (the "pop" album) it went down in comparison.
Still love the band, but yeah I noticed the decline as well. I think he can manage, but I don't think we'll ever get the awesome high notes like the song Innocence faded.
Off traffic and it's not part of your video but I can't help but to notice that awesome mode fout in the background that is a very rare amp
I love it. My old band mate had one and I was always impressed by it, especially considering it wasn't tube output stage. That being said I was always open to solid state power stages having tried a couple decent Peavey amps and of course you had Dime using solid state. So I never had an issue with how the thing worked, I just liked the sound of it.
So when I first came to the UK and started working at Andertons Music in Surrey, they had one going at a reduced price because theyd just gone end of line I think about that time. So I thought "I'll have that, thank you very much".
I was in London
He was absolutely horrible on the night. To the point of destroying the experience
That was my 4th DT gig. On previous 3 he was much, much better.
Someone tried to tell me it was just because it was recorded on mobile phone at the 02.
I was like, no pitch us pitch so unless the phone was moving back and fourth a few hundred meters per second then I think he was having a bad day 😂
I was there. Yeah, he had his dodgy moments, but he was absolutely fine for maybe 90% of the show.
Obviously not as good as he was back in the 90s, but still passable for the most part.
Been going to see them since the Marquee gig in '92 and am more disappointed about his lack of creativity on the vocal melodies now.
I saw them in Prague in November and it was really the same as the 02 Arena one in London. I still enjoyed the concert, but the Images and Words and Awake songs especially those, but even some other ones was just really really bad.. Not sure maybe they should just quit at this point.
Oooh... Ouch... 😆 I don't know about quitting altogether, because instrumentally they're still very good. That's a pretty damning verdict on the lead vocals though.
Thanks for the comment.
@Masterlessmusic they've been my favorite band, so it pains me to say this, I even still liked his vocals in live at Luna Park which was more recent, but I mean this is just really sad, in that case he should be replaced.
@lopolik it is sad. Many people here agree with your view on this.
I'll take a struggling James over anything else. I just want Mangini back. I miss that high octane drumming!
I don't give a fuck what "the fans" are saying.
Back in the mid 90s I used to have quite a few boot legged live Dream Theater CDs. James sounded terrible. His voice would crack and he would miss the notes. I wondered what the hell was going on.
The first time I seen dream fitter was in 1998 at Saint Andrews hall in Detroit. On Devils night lol. James sounded great. I have seen Dream Theater six or seven times. The last time I seen them was the images and words anniversary.
James did not sound that good but he wasn’t terrible. I also noticed the band was playing if not all, the majority of the songs in lower tuning. Even tuning down didn’t seem to help James.
I will be seeing Dream Theater February 10. It will be the third show of the North American tour. I have noticed James sounds better further into the tour. Because I’ll be seeing the third show into the North American tour, James may not perform well.
I can only speak for myself as a Dream Theater fan. I love Dream Theater. James Labree is the voice of Dream Theater. I cannot imagine Dream Theater without James Labre. At the same time, it saddens me to see him struggle.
There are times where I wish James would retire. He has had an amazing career and had one hell of a voice that other part of me is like, no. James stays with Dream Theater and they keep going until they can’t do it anymore.
I think the biggest issue I’m having and it has more to do with the entire band is just how disconnected and corny a lot of the lyrics have been the past few years. am I the only one who feels that way. The lyrics seem forced.
Just my two cents
I'm quite surprised especially with Parasomnia so far at just how formulaic it's sounding. Aside from that swing thing in "A Broken Man", which I really welcomed.
They also have a tendency to repeat previous themes quite a bit over their career.
I'd thought that with Portnoy coming back in, it'd bring with it a rejuvenated "freshness" about the whole thing, but I think perhaps it's happened a bit too late.
Honestly I think maybe now they're reconciled to being on the home stretch and they just want to finish up together and enjoying the brotherhood of the band as they do so.
Sadlyany bands I love on likely in their final decade now. I can't sew a lot of them touring past 70 years old.
This topic is so over hyped and lame.... Sure he's had some not so good moments... But give the guy a break he's older now as is the rest of the guys. I can't think of anyone who could fill his shoes without sounding completely out of place there.
Don't talk nonsense. Loads of vocalists can replace him and sound amazing and fit right in. It would just be down to personality.
DT should steal the singer from the QUEEN tribute band Queenie.
I'm a HUGE fan, I'm 24 I got into them on the distance over time album, I have seen then more then 4 times now since then. And James has never sounded good at any of these gigs. Especially the at the O2 and when i saw them in Glasgow on the A view from a top of the world tour. It sounds like a drunk trying to sing on stage with amazing musicians, its tragic....
That's sad to hear.
About 50% of the fans are seriously disappointed by the vocals? That would in fact affect the ticket sales...
I'm voting for vocal backing tracks anyway
50 percent of the comments on my previous video. Not the world wide fan base. I said this specifically in the video.
I just think he can't sing beyond a certain range now. He can't really do most of the high notes anymore. And everything they write now James sings within the same mid to low range bunch of notes and it's boring to listen to on albums now. He writes the same melodies over and over with the same notes. I personally think, as much as I love his vocals on the first 4 or 5 albums, that he should bow out of the band and do his own thing, writing in his current range. I know people are going to come at me for that but I'm a fan but he hasn't been able to hack it for a while. He struggles with almost all the high notes. I think the instruments are fine but the vocals need revamping and for me it means someone new.
While their recent albums (including the up-and-coming Parasomnia) made me sleep, I disagree with your statement that their new material is boring because of Jame' vocal lines being always wihtin mid to low range. His self-titled album Beautiful Shade of Gray doesn't contain those vocal acrobatics he did when he was 30-years old, but it actually felt fresh and more enjoyable, have more heart put into it. The real problem is that Petrucci and Rudess just simply sucks as musical composers. Even if moden-day DT recorded an album with 30-year-old Prime LaBrie, it would still be uninspired nonetheless. That said, for the sake of his dignity and health, James does need to quit (oh the irony of people who keep on saying "Give him a break" when they're the ones who'd prefer he keep on touring and embarrass himself show after show). He can focus on his solo work and I'd support that. I think he'll do good as a ghost writer or a Record Producer
@ I didn’t say their material was boring because of it, I said his vocal melodies are boring now. I just think his limited range now will suit another band that’s not so technical and just a bit of a different vibe. The music, for the most part, is fine. Haven’t heard that solo album you mentioned. Will give it a whirl.
I'm sorry but for me labrie voice is not as the same level of those virtuosos musicians .... may ne he has a good musical ear and a nice range but i'm sorry once again is not at the same level of his band mates .... and same thing to axl rose by the way .... they should follow the example of nicko mcbrain, if you can not help (musically speaking) it would be better to set aside and let someone else to do it ....
You make an interesting observation which is that if a decision like that was to be made, it'd probably have to come from him.
I'm sure it wasn't easy for Nicko but ultimately he took the burden off his band mates by not putting them in a position where they would be forced to ask him to leave.
That's probably the best way to make a lineup change more easily accepted by the fans.
He's older and his voice is pretty bad now. I love the guy, but without down tuning, he cannot keep the high notes going. He also seems to not have as much breath to do it...I think he's carrying alot of extra weight. As you age, you can't pull it off over 50. The musicianship is still great, but the vocals aren't as good .. not his fault. It happens.
Yes, there's a human being behind all of this and I'm inclined not to lay into him too hard unnecessarily. I'm sure he must be aware of it, and I'm sure that isn't particularly pleasant for him to reconcile. It's his life's work after all.
I always found his voice annoying so really dont care if he can “hack” as soon as his voice comes up i feel dissatisfied in the song
I just find his melody writing boring now because of the obvious range limitation. For a brilliant Prog Metal band like Dream Theater you can't have a singer who did really amazing melodies, wielding high notes with the low and mid range notes, really well sing only within a precious few mid to low range notes on every album nowadays. The vocals all sound the same on the last at least 3 albums now.
@ he does a flat sameness to his voice that always bother me one way or another, it shows more when you have heard a whole album thats more than 45 minutes long
He was not that bad at the O2. Ca mone, y'all just exaggerating now.