Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Live Series: Los Angeles, California: 5/18/98 (2003)Release ID: 37367

Dream Theater - Official Bootleg: Live Series: Los Angeles, California: 5/18/98 (2003) Cover
MartinDavey87 MartinDavey87 / October 16, 2022 / Comments 0 / 0

Aw man... poor James LaBrie. I can’t help but feel that this release is some kind of dig at the fella. Perhaps he’d upset Mike Portnoy or maybe he lost a bet or something? The fact is, this official bootleg by Dream Theater is a pretty substandard album thanks in part to LaBrie’s absolutely horrendous vocals which falter and diminish more and more as the set drags on.

It’s been well documented the issues LaBrie had after rupturing his vocal chords whilst touring in the mid-90’s, but damn, the number of times his voice cracks or wobbles or he just flat out can’t sing like he use to, is painful to hear. But props to the guy for never giving up, since stuff like this must have been a HUGE knock to his confidence.

Besides that, while the musicianship is fantastic as you’d always expect from this band, the only other notable reason that this recording was put out there was because it features the legendary Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden on vocals for a number of songs, (and Ray Alder of Fates Warning too! But that pales in comparison), and to be fair if I was joined on stage by Bruce Dickinson I’d probably want everyone to hear it too.

But even that is mildly entertaining, as it’s literally just a fun jam, and nothing overly memorable. But for what it’s worth, that’s probably the only major selling point of this release. Hell, even the front cover is a shot of Dickinson jamming with the band, leaving poor James LaBrie standing in the background with whatever shred of dignity and self-respect he had left slowly fading away.

Poor LaBrie.


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Release info

Release Site Rating

Ratings: 1 | Reviews: 1

2.0

Release Clan Rating

Ratings: 1 | Reviews: 1

2.0

Cover Site Rating

Ratings: 0

0.0

Cover Clan Rating

Ratings: 0

0.0
Release
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Los Angeles, California: 5/18/98
Year
2003
Format
Live
Clans
The Infinite
Sub-Genres

Progressive Metal (conventional)

Voted For: 0 | Against: 0

Dream Theater chronology

When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Images and Words (1992)
Live at the Marquee (1993)
Awake (1994)
A Change of Seasons (1995)
Falling Into Infinity (1997)
Once in a Live Time (1998)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)
Live Scenes From New York (2001)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Train of Thought (2003)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: The Majesty Demos: 1985-1986 (2003)
Official Bootleg: Studio Series: The Making of Scenes From a Memory (2003)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Los Angeles, California: 5/18/98 (2003)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Tokyo, Japan: 10/28/95 (2003)
Live at Budokan (2004)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: When Dream and Day Unite Demos: 1987-1989 (2004)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Master of Puppets (2004)
Octavarium (2005)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Images and Words Demos: 1989-1991 (2005)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: When Dream and Day Reunite (2005)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: The Number of the Beast (2005)
Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour (2006)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Awake Demos: 1994 (2006)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Dark Side of the Moon (2006)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: Old Bridge, New Jersey: 12/14/96 (2006)
Official Bootleg: Covers Series: Made in Japan (2006)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Falling Into Infinity Demos (2007)
Official Bootleg: Live Series: New York City: 3/4/93 (2007)
Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (2008)
Official Bootleg: Cover Series: Uncovered 2003-2005 (2009)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Official Bootleg: Studio Series: The Making of Falling Into Infinity (2009)
Official Bootleg: Demo Series: Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 (2009)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
Happy Holidays (2013)
Live at Luna Park (2013)
Dream Theater (2013)
Breaking the Fourth Wall (2014)
The Astonishing (2016)
Distance Over Time (2019)
Distant Memories - Live in London (2020)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Images and Words - Live in Japan, 2017 (2021)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: A Dramatic Tour of Events – Select Board Mixes (2021)
A View From the Top of the World (2021)
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: ...And Beyond - Live in Japan, 2017 (2022)