Listening to the latest bootleg recordings posted...
I'd say better than 2002, but not something close to like the "magic" of the Live Era recordings and re-recordings. There's moments of brilliance but then there's just going back into that 2002 "whinny" voice instead of soulful rasp. And this could happen in the same line every other word.
Yeah, in the old days he wasn't perfect at all, no, but that "whinny" high voice creaks through on these recordings. They just sound very very inconsistant.
BUT these are the first shows. I'm not jumping in and saying "HIS VOICE IS SO GOOD IT HASN'T BEEN THIS WAY EVER!! Yay!" but I won't want to be doom and gloom, either.
There's a clip of one of the show's Rocket Queen and it is AMAZING. But then there's other parts of songs that just sound bad.
Though these are much better than 2002, I'm not saying he's "never sounded better"...