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

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.