I am in awe of this performance. For me the most amazing point in the song is when he goes from the rich, gritty vocals of the previous verse to the crystal clear ending - and when he hits and holds "sound" - he absolutely nails it. Voice of an angel right there.

The struggle was because he was sick & they were not even going to sing but he changed his mind.

Notice the SILENCE of the audience...until the very last note. They were stunned.

I have been watching reaction videos of Disturbed with their studio version with the cinemagraphic storytelling and the Conan Show version with the extra 15 people in the orchestra behind David. I am 76, grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel and others sing this song until last year when I came across the studio version and then the Conan Show version. I can say that until I heard Disturbed's version, I never understood the song, it was just a folk-type song; now I understand it. I have come across several comments that may be pertinent; audience members said that there was a standing ovation and applause of over 10 minutes after the performance, people from backstage came out to see who was singing, this performance has had over 135 million views since 3/28/2016, it was nominated for a Grammy, and they were there because they had been nominated for an award ceremony along with several other groups. I would like to have a DVD containing the video of the studio version with the audio of the Conan Show because of the orchestration behind David. I have come across several of their live performances and the song is the same in each. Try to find his interviews about choosing The Sound of Silence, David is a very interesting person.

I loved how the Tympany player perfectly punctuated David's singing.

I heard this piece of music only a few days ago and OMG, the hairs just stood up on end and I couldn't help shed a tear I can tell you. Powerful and full of soul and energy, this version live and studio were absolutely amazing.

The production on this is perfection everyone at the top of their game from sound to lights to everything and the band is smoking 🙂

I’m a Disturbed and David Draiman junkie thanks to my 30 year old daughter. When I first heard this..the studio version..I was blown away. Seeing the visuals and hearing his incredible voice causes me to cry every time. I even stop breathing towards the end. I suggest listening to the studio version. This live version is incredible but the poor man had a fever of 104, a lesion on his vocal chord, and is dehydrated. To me, he has the most incredible voice I ever heard. As an aside, he is a trained Cantor like his father and grandfather. I just saw your precious furbaby behind you! I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and saw him/her. Another reason to like you! 🫶🏻🐾🐕🐾

He was so ill that he sat down for fear of falling. So, personally, I think he was fair well amazing.

He was trained as a Cantor with some additional Opera Singing training, it shows in his incredible voice.

I grew up with Simon and Garfunkel version of this song on my parents vinyl collection. I’m usually one of those guys who hates when bands do remakes of great songs but Disturbed absolutely does this one justice. They’ve also handled Land of Confusion by Genesis, Shout by Tears For Fears. David Draiman is such a multitalented beast. Not a single but of autotune!

To be in that audience.. imagine the people that had no idea who David was .. who Disturbed was..then hearing this absolutely amazing piece.. then thinking their music was always like this and looking them up to hear 'Down with the sickness' !! Hahaha love it! And David was very ill, they didn't want him to do it but he pushed through and why he is seated the whole time

He was really sick and still showed up for that performance and THAT HE DID!! Fn AWESOME!!

Your analysis and reaction was so good. , especially about the importance io the live performance. I think that is why i felt so connected to his voice. It was beautiful and so real. I didn’t know he was sick until later. I think his being sick simply accentuated the message of the song. His performance here just grabs my heart, and i can feel the pain.

Holding and sustaining notes, as in in this performance, has always been the best way to demonstrate strength of sincerity and emotion in a song - it raises it to another level. Thank goodness David was able to show how it's really done.

And David was sick during this performance! ☮️❤️Sea Point, Cape Town

Thank you for pointing out the instruments and their impact on the song. I've watched about 30 different professional singer/musician reactions to this performance, and yours is the only one to go in-depth with the instruments. I enjoyed learning about them! C: Subscribed!

His lives and studio performances of this song are the same. His voice is the magic of it. *mwah* I love watching reaction videos of this, my favourite song, it helps me grasp a little of my own original reaction to hearing it for the first time.

I still like the view that the original was a warning, and this rendition shows the anger because we didn't heed the original.

The struggle in his voice was based on him being ill that day. He was a professionally trained Cantor.

A GOD GIVEN TALENT!❤❤😢, VERY EMOTIONAL!❤❤❤

By Far the live version is hands down the best. While I loved the video for the visual message of the songs meaning; I much prefer the grit, raw power and steely passion of his voice in this live performance.

In a way….Music brings people together because it’s emotional vibration at its core level.

Certain things in life I wish I knew what it was like to be or do. Like be 7 feet tall for a day. To suddenly have the skills of Tony Hawk. Or to be able to sing “like silent raindrops fell” the way he did here

Yes live- absolute perfection from disturbed and the musicians

I have watched several reaction videos on this performance and I enjoyed yours the most. I love all of your insightful comments, but watching you grin like the Cheshire cat was the best! Your love of music truly comes through. Thanks for the awesome video! I will definitely be checking out more of your work.

As someone mentioned, David was sick (flu?) and the Conan team thought that David would not be able to perform well so they auto tuned it! From what I’ve read, David was furious! I agree that, live music in particular, should not be robotic but allow the emotion and cracks to show through.

In an interview he said the performance was tough because he had a lesion on one of his vocal cords

Thank you for your reaction video. I especially appreciate your comment about live music (I first noticed this when listening to a soprano (opera singer) and heard those marvelous imperfections, and yes they are marvelous. Also appreciate your mentioning that he was sick (doing your background homework!). You brought forward several other pertinent things as well. I also liked that you allowed your face to reflect your appreciation. Thank you.

Damn! David Draiman can sing! ...one of the best on the planet imho. He can even put vibrato on distortion! ... which is incredible difficult to do. Sometimes he sounds sooo angelic... then on a dime comes the distortion and back... which is again so difficult. The man has such control of his voice! ... it's really amazing! Great reaction Shawka.

I absolutely love this guy & he’s voice with this song! ❤ If you’ve never been told about Dan Vasc’s Amazing Grace check it out you won’t be sorry, he also is a rock singer ❤❤

The gentleman playing the kettle drums is the bands drummer.

It’s just beautiful ❤

Great cover !!

I’ve never seen this one. Wow. I would do anything to see this performed live. I actually wondered if he wasn’t feeling well though. Honestly his singing wasn’t even affected but he just looked like he needed to be curled up in bed. I had that feeling moms get when they know their kids are sick. 😅 Then I saw the comments saying that he was sick. Either way, incredible performance.

As others said he was so sick that they had to provide a chair to sit on so he did not pass out. He uses his nasal passages like a true expert pro signer.

Loved this

Your pure enjoyment of music is intoxicating.

I love David Draiman! He was dealing with leisons on his vocal cords during this performance

Great analysis. I, too, prefer the Live version with the fantastic orchestra that supports and amplifies David's masterful performance. The strings, timpanis, piano, all of them were fantastic.

Reference to your comment about the vocal processing, I do believe that there was very little vocal processing in the studio version. But I really like what they did in the studio version because it made it sound so very intimate as if he's right there in your ear. In the live version you'll note that there is still some Reverb and delay. So there is definitely both will processing going on live and in the studio. Either way, I agree 100% is voice is like butter.

He had the flu anda fever of 104 degrees he didn’t want to perform that day but changed his mind .

One word, Amazing !

Can you imagine David Draiman was sick with the flu during this performance!!!

He had the flu and a fever of 102. He was sitting because the producers were afraid he was going to pass out.

It was mentioned that David was sick for this performance. I have listened to many versions and I believe this live version was really the best (flaws and all).

Não me canso em ouvi-lo...divino,fantástico,maravilhoso! ❤❤

I much prefer live music. This was, for me, perfection.

Even sick this man is amazing❤❤❤❤😊😊😊

I agree with you 💯

Admittedly I am old school just enough (still young 😂) that live music sounds “normal” to me. I love the little flaws because it makes it real to me. I also don’t listen for them, as odd as that sounds, it is like something that you grew up hearing so it is not a surprise or a big deal. And it still isn’t. When I go to concerts today I don’t take out my mobile phone, I don’t record anything, I just listen. I want to remember it as an entire experience, not in snippets of time caught on my phone in video format that probably turned out bad anyway. Also studio versions today that are all cleaned up sound strange to me? Almost too perfect if that makes sense. What does drive me crazy is hearing a song from the studio, go to a live performance and the artist cannot do it live because it was too cleaned up in the studio. Some of the best singers, groups, bands, acts today I think make sure that they can perform live what they do in the studio. Or they should. It doesn’t even need to be exactly the same, look at Queen for instance, their songs were almost always better live than in the studio. I think Pentatonix also makes sure they can sing it live. It just is more real. My old school (but still young) opinion. 🤷🏼‍♀️

David had a temp of 101 and still sounded amazing! He is a Cantor, so...

Don’t forget to mention the musicians

Keep it up

I love listening to my favorites live. Some you have reacted too. Floor Jansen for example even she makes mistakes vocally or will purposely be late to come back on stage.

I would love to see a reaction video to an Australian singer John farnham and listen to the studio recording and the live performance either way he is one of the greatest voices ever

At this time of the performance he was still healing from throat surgery

Oh, my mother loves this song

You should check out some of Morisette Amon's stuff. "Rise Up" and "Secret Love Song" both live on the with bus, Defying Gravity done during a live stream performance she did, and her Bruno Mars Medley was masterfully done.

He was actually very sick from the flu when he performed this. Amazing

Did you know?, that he first started out singing in OPERA?!.., He is now a Heavy Metal singer band, Go figure~.., His voice is like creamy, thick, warm chocolate!.., He has THEE MOST BEAUTIFUL voice I have ever heard in my loooooong life as a music lover!.., This song IS a WARNING, think about it!.., EVERY meaning in this song, comes from the written WORD of the LORD, it's ALL in the bible!!!

He did that with the flu. Wow!

I agree about live music. In my young adult years - I enjoyed all the live music and local bands on the Jersey shore- nothing like it. Having a band at our wedding was critical- no DJ. When I hear there is going to be a DJ at a wedding I’m sad. I feel bad for the generation that did not get the chance to go to and listen to live music on the Jersey shore. Peace out!

Can't say how many reactions of this I've listened to. You mentioned flaws, one thing i wish he had done at the end is in the last "of" in of silence. I wish he formed the vowel a little more like an "ah" and not an "uh". I always find the "ah" to be more pure.

You should get back to Nanowar of Steel. Their new song "Disco metal" is just amazing.

David was actually sick with the flu, but he went on anyway... He was classically trained

he was sick with the flu

The "writing" is mentioned over and over. That actual writing took place decades ago. Isn't the term "arrangement" more accurate? (Sorry to be so picky...I'm probably way off-base on this. Please call me out if that's the case. ☺️)

Just gonna hope he had great earplugs, being parked by thon big drums

I heard it was a cord bleed

did you know he had the flu at the time of this and a 101 temp.

Please, please, please…listen to Sober by Tool - the live version from 1993. It will change your life.

You should have done your reaction to the original Simon and garfunkle the creators of that song and there voices melded so much better 💚💙💟💚💓

This comment comes from the beginning of the song, but you know what they say about entertainers, right? You should never work with children or animals since they will steal your focus. Please boop that baby lying on the couch in the background, scratch behind his/her ears and bestow a smooch from Auntie Melly. Yes. A complete stranger is now Auntie Melly. This is your own fault ... LOLOL. ❤🐾💋 EDIT: I loved your review!

He was ill !!!!!!!!!

Produced music loses so much character and emotion. I’m with you that live music is far superior

I’ve always found the timpani player as a rolling thunder; a storm coming closer as we listen. We can hear faint thunder when a storm rolls in, and when Draiman’s voice reaches it’s crescendo, that’s the lightning. This entire song, to me, is a perfect and beautiful storm of a human struggle with thought. It rolls in slowly like a thunder head, the storm hits quick and sharp, and rolls off again with that timpani giving a final rolling thunder across our emotions.

The struggle in part had to do with the fact he was sick with the flu (or cold)