Before Yngwie, Erik Grönwall played in front of a large audience. A significant part of the crowd chose to leave the area after Grönwall's performance, but those who stayed gathered all the closer in front of the stage.
The stage design said everything about the evening's power dynamic. The right side was completely dominated by a gigantic wall of Marshall amplifiers, leaving the stage floor free for the star's poses. We photographers were strictly confined to the left half of the pit, which also meant that Yngwie was consistently photographed from the same side.
Malmsteen never introduces his band members to the audience, but they do an impressive job in the shadow of the main act. Keyboardist and singer Nick Z. Marino carries much of the older material with a steady vocal performance, bassist Emilio Martinez delivers an unshakeable foundation, and drummer Kevin Klingenschmid keeps a high pace with impressive precision.
Perhaps the hardest-working person of the evening after Yngwie himself was his guitar technician. At regular intervals, he had to run onto the stage to fetch and hand over guitars—a number of exchanges impossible to keep track of. When there weren't guitars to be swapped out, he came in to replenish the microphone stand with new picks in preparation for the next round of throws and kicks off the edge of the stage.
The picks themselves became a small show in their own right. Yngwie threw and kicked them out at regular intervals, but hardly any actually reached the crowd. Instead, they remained on the stage floor or fell down into the pit. One of them landed between my feet while I was photographing. After a couple of frantic arms waving from the audience, I gave it to a guy who was incredibly grateful—a small testament to the almost religious status Yngwie still holds among his devoted followers.
Musically, Yngwie delivered exactly what his audience came to hear. Classics like "Rising Force" set the tone immediately, and during the evening the audience also got to hear instrumental favorites like "Far Beyond the Sun", a song that holds a special status among guitarists worldwide. The rest of the concert was a showcase of the neoclassical playing style that made him world famous. The speed and precision are still impressive, even if the many solo sections sometimes become so long that they almost transition from songs to pure guitar demonstrations. For the initiated, it's pure joy. For the uninitiated, it can at times be difficult to distinguish musicality from technical brilliance.
The concert ends with the whole band thanking the audience together. When the other musicians have left the stage, Yngwie Malmsteen remains alone to receive the audience's final applause.
One can have opinions about that type of artist persona, but at the same time there is something refreshing about Yngwie Malmsteen never trying to be anything other than Yngwie Malmsteen. He has built his reputation on uncompromising virtuosity and a clear belief in his own role, and after over 40 years on the world's stages, there is really no reason to expect anything else. Those who stayed in front of the stage got exactly the show they came to see. I did not leave the concert with a new image of Yngwie Malmsteen—I left with the feeling that the myth was pretty accurate.
