Yngwie Malmsteen - Gig Review 18th May @ The Princess Theatre, Bris QLD
Yngwie Malmsteen
The Princess Theatre, Meanjin/Brisbane QLD
May 18th, 2024
Support: Ragdoll
An enigmatic figure in the world of electric guitar and heavy metal, Yngwie Johan Malmsteen’s storied and varied career extends back to the late 1970s. With a fusion of his early proto-shred heroes and classical music’s most magisterial and bombastic moments, Malmsteen’s patented neo-classical stylings has made him one the most instantly recognisable players to have ever handled a six-string.
With multiple high-profile sporting events across Brisbane this evening, there’s plenty of buzz around the city – but the half-filled Princess Theatre that greets WOS suggests that the Swedish maestro’s first Australian tour since 2015 may be the victim of clashing schedules tonight. Not that those who are here seem to care, with a fair chunk of the (mostly male) punters vying to get the best shot of the Swede’s infamous backline/mountain of Marshall amps.
Despite arriving on stage to virtual silence, Perth’s Ragdoll starts the night off strong with their enthusiastic brand of straight-up hard rock, with the Brisbane crowd waking up quick-smart. With elements of glam, post-grunge, classic rock – and the odd dropped-tuned riff – the power trio might need fine-tuning in the songwriting department, but they certainly have the chops, and their uptempo performance makes them a hit with those who rocked up early. A nice meaty mix helps Ragdoll get their point across even further, with the powerhouse pipes of vocalist/bassist Ryan Rafferty seriously impressive, the frontman giving peak Glenn Hughes vibes. With grins plastered on their faces for their whole half-an-hour slot, even an accidental guitar unplugging mid-song ending only garners good-natured laughs from the band and crowd. It’s all very solid stuff from Ragdoll, and the WA three-piece showing that there is still plenty of good, no-nonsense modern rock coming out of this nation.
As Ragdoll quickly breakdown their gear and the Malmsteen crew setup, there’s certainly no doubt who the marquee player will be on stage; with his bassist, drummer, and keyboardist/vocalist pushed over to stage right, the guitarist occupies the entire stage left zone. With his band members taking the now-darkened stage, the guitarist fires off a few swept arpeggios off stage to roars of approval – though it takes a few more moments before the keyboard intro of his usual show-opening classic ‘Rising Force’ kicks in and Malmsteen bursts into view in full flight. While it might be bleeding obvious by the wall of amps that tonight was always going to be a loud gig, the volume initially is near-criminal, with any foolish punters without hearing protection immediately covering their ears. Malmsteen’s playing himself is almost indistinguishable for the first couple of tunes, with the Princess Theatre’s high ceilings initially – and unforgivingly – swallowing up anything but his highest, most screaming notes. Fortunately, the sound clears up (a touch), and Malmsteen’s mastery of the Fender Stratocaster means that despite being louder than an atomic bomb, he is in full control of the waves of sustain and feedback coming from his guitars and amps alike.
Those inside the Princess Theatre are definitely in Malmsteen’s world for the 90+ minutes his on stage; he fires off every single rock move in the book (sans breaking his guitar), but also wanders out of view at various intervals mid-track, seemingly trying to deal with his admitted tuning issues (he doesn’t baby his instruments to be fair). It’s not all blood and thunder though; with the ballad Like an ‘Angel (For April)‘ showing off a more melodic side to his playing, whereas the extended ending of ‘Now Your Ships Are Burned‘ features a rare moment of atmosphere and restraint.
It must be pointed out that there is a somewhat large elephant in the room; despite being billed as “a celebration of” his debut solo album Rising Force for it’s 40th anniversary, the gig’s song selection certainly doesn’t reflect this – Malmsteen only mentions the record in passing briefly, instead hawking his most recent LP – the now-three-year-old Parabellum – multiple times. Coupled with the fact that a quick search online shows that this is a virtually identical set to what he’s been playing since the start of 2022, it’s not hard to imagine some attendees going home feeling short-changed. It also doesn’t help that the newer material aired sounds like guitar instructional videos, devoid of hooks or any elements he’s not thoroughly explored previously. Fortunately, Malmsteen and company do dig out some certified 80s metal/shred classics, ‘Evil Eye’ sounds as vital as it did four decades ago, where ‘Seventh Sign‘ might be the best example of Yngwie‘s pure songwriting. A handful of crowd-pleasing covers are mixed in – ‘Smoke In The Water’ and Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Red House‘ – while the interpolation of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ at the end of early Yngwie cut ‘Far Beyond The Sun‘ works surprisingly well.
‘You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget‘ closes the main set and gets the biggest (and only) sing-along of the evening; the immensely-catchy, synth-driven tune might be the most overtly hair-metal piece in his catalogue, but it works perfectly live in the modern age. While the nylon string guitar Malmsteen shreds at the start of the encore admittedly doesn’t sound amazing, it does lead into the night’s finale, ‘Black Star‘. The enormous opener of Rising Force, with it’s heroic guitar licks and thumping groove, is the only way to finish this show – Mamsteen even does his classic ‘hold the same note for 30 seconds’ trick to huge approval, before taking a final bow with his band mates and guitar tech.
Tonight has certainly been a mixed bag for both Yngwie Malmsteen and his Brisbane fans. There’s no doubt that Malmsteen cares deeply about his craft and is an impassioned player and performer; no way anyone in The Princess Theatre could claim he’s phoning it in. Sure, he’s been essentially throwing down the same rock-shapes and licks for 40 years, that’ll come as no surprise to anyone here tonight. What lets down the Swede this evening is the ear-shattering, messy mix and a weak setlist that could have been so much more.
Gig Review by Andrew Kapper @andrew_kapper
