Archive for the ‘yngwie’ Category
Yngwie J. Malmsteen Concert Review, June 10, 2017, Houston, TX
Last night I witnessed the over the top guitar playing of Yngwie Malmsteen for the 9th time since 1986. While he is my favorite guitarist, I haven’t liked any of his releases post-Alchemy and his latest one with him on vocals is pretty boring. That being said, I always love seeing him live.
Local (to Houston) band Apocalyptic opened up. They were super tight technical shred thrash that at times reminded me of Agent Steel with a singer that could hit insanely high notes at will. The only real issue I had with them is that the singer wouldn’t shut the fuck up between songs. They could have played one more song with all the time he spent between songs talking about how cool it was to be there or “show me your horns” or “scream for me, Houston” over and over. Less talk, more rock, please. Their main lead player and bassist were also really good.
Of course Yngwie comes on and the wall of Marshalls is lining the back of the stage. For the record, only 2 heads were actually used. They opened with Rising Force and the bassist sang. He sounded good but what irked me to no end was that they only did the first verse then the solo section. What? Most of the show consisted of instrumentals, which was fine. That meant that Yngwie didn’t sing. In Seventh Sign, the keyboardist sang and they did the whole song. Sounded great. Demon Driver and Heaven Tonight were also first verse and solo sections only. To be honest, if you’re gonna cut out sections of songs like that, just do a full night of instrumentals. In the encore, they ended with I’ll See the Light Tonight and, yes, first verse and solo sections only.
Beyond that silliness, Yngwie was awesome and I’m glad I went. His back up band, basically tucked into one corner of the stage, was really good. Of course Yngwie threw a bunch of picks out and only high kicked a few this time. I’m really glad he didn’t sing
The venue, White Oak Music Hall, holds 1200 and I imagine about 600-700 people were there. Hopefully the 10th time I see him won’t be too far in the distant future.
Yngwie Malmsteen Concert Review, Dallas, TX 110211
Lucky me. Twice in one week I got to see another one of my all-time favorite bands/musicians. Yngwie! I think this was 8th time I have seen him since 1986 (Triumph/Yngwie). Even though many of his recent albums have been a bit lackluster, he’s still quite entertaining live and just being able to watch him play is worth it.
I’ve been working out of town during the week in Dallas for the last 3+ months and haven’t really explored the music scene up here much and regrettably missed some quality shows, but there was no way I was going to miss this one. I bought my ticket on Monday at Wal*Mart of all places. They were the nearest Ticketmaster hub to my hotel. I don’t like going there and it just felt weird buying a concert ticket there. But no bother.
Last night’s show was at the House of Blues in downtown Dallas. I went down right after work and it only took a few minutes to get there from the office. It was a bit odd, though. Downtown Dallas is huge but last night it seemed like such a desolate place. Other than the parking lot outside of the venue, I didn’t see anyone out and about. Maybe the cold front that blew in that evening kept some folks away. I liked it down there, though. I love city living…concrete and steel for me!
Doors opened to the venue at 7PM and I got there around 6PM. Because of the storm that was brewing, I decided to just eat there. Wasn’t too bad but of course a bit overpriced.
Checked out the merch booth and didn’t see anything that really caught my eye.
Opening band went on promptly at 8. They were called Little Green Men and hailed from Fort Worth. While they played a tight set and there were some good guitar solos, the band was not my thing, not in the least. I was pretty bored and just wanted them to stop playing. Just give me some Yngwie!
After clearing the stage, you could see the full Yngwie stage setup. The drums were set at the back left corner of
Marshall City!
the stage almost behind the wall of Marshalls…17 cabinets and 27 heads. No, really! I think that was the biggest setup I’ve seen him use ever. Of course most are only for show, but still…80s excess at its finest! The keyboard player was at the far left of the stage almost completely out of sight and the bassist hung around that side as well. I mean, c’mon. This IS the Yngwie show, right?
The lights die down and you hear the keyboard intro to Rising Force (From Odyssey), then the drums kick in and the band hits the stage and kicks into the song full force. For as much as I have slagged Ripper Owens over the years, he sounded pretty good going into the set, much better than he sounded when I saw him with Yngwie in San Antonio a couple of years ago. The setlist stuck with a lot of newer material and I think that’s mostly because Ripper can’t sing a lot of the Joe Lynn/Jeff Scott Soto era stuff. Not many can. He did sound good on Never Die as well.
They got to Dreaming mid-set and for the first half of the song, Ripper sounded great. I was shocked…then after
Yngwie unleashing the fooking fury!
that, I don’t know happened, but for the last part of that song, he sounded like he was singing something different. Sure, the lyrics were right but he had gotten so out of key that it was painful to hear. Not sure if he lost his inner-ear monitors or what, but the end of that song was horrid. It then kicked into Gates of Babylon and he sounded fine in that.
I’m sorry, but he can’t carry the Turner/Soto stuff. I really wish Yngwie could find someone else who can handle all eras of the band vocally. Not to mention that Ripper sounds so “enhanced” on the last 2 Yngwie albums.
Patrick Johansson is a killer drummer, unfortunately all you could hear was his kick and snare. He had toms, but they were so low in the mix that they didn’t matter. Same with the keys and bass. There were a few moments where Yngwie and the keyboardist were playing together and you could hear him somewhat and the guy was really good. The bass was practically non-existent, which is typical for an Yngwie show.
Now we get to Yngwie. The giant Swede. The man took what Uli Roth and Ritchie Blackmore and created a whole new genre. Sure, in recent years he plays fewer riffs and just solos everywhere, but he’s still incredible and fun to watch. The last 3 times I have seen him, he really seems to be having fun on stage. He has mastered the art of kicking guitar picks into the crowd. I think Rick Nielson of Cheap Trick is the only person to throw out more picks.
I stayed back by the soundboard for the show. Attendance seemed to be around 300-350, not too shabby, but seemingly small for a club that holds 1700.
It was a fun show. Not my favorite show that I’ve seen of his, but still quite enjoyable. I try not to miss him if I can help it. I’m glad he’s still out there touring and still glad I’m able to see it.
Setlist as I remember it:
Rising Force
Never Die / Shot Across the Bow
Overture
Critical Mass
Badinerie
Far Beyond the Sun / Star Spangled Banner
Enemy Within
Red Devil
The Damnation Game / Baroque & Roll
Live To Fight (Another Day)
Dreaming / Gates Of Babylon
(Rainbow cover)
Into Valhalla
Trilogy Suite Op: 5
Red House
Fugue
Heaven Tonight
Encore:
Black Star / Cherokee Warrior
As Above, So Below
I’ll See the Light Tonight
So bang ’em…
Take the context of that any way you want. :)
If you read the Megadeth post below then you saw me mention Obsession’s “Scarred For Life”. This was a very unique band and another one that I found via a former friend from high school. They had such a unique sound and style. Total fist banging type stuff, mostly upbeat and a lot of cymbal catch type stuff. I don’t know a better way to put it.
Anyhoo, it was 1986 and there was a small group of us in our area that were really into these guys. Kelz and I were all about them but I don’t remember Danile really being into them so much. My other crew of friends loved Obsession.
“Scarred for Life” was just one of those albums for me. I spun it incessantly. Practiced drums to it as much as possible and tried to get all the cymbal catches in the right spots. Easier said than done, they had a lot!
When their second full length album came out, they were starting to get some MTV exposure and a few of their videos were getting played which gave them the opportunity to tour the USA with Paul Dianno’s Battlezone and this tour rolled through Norfolk at The Boathouse.
Now realize that were we all under 21 and for some shows at the Boathouse, they’d put up a barricade that kept us kids from being able to get right in front of the stage. This show was set up like that. My old friend and I made some banners on cardboard and were freaking out during every song. I think we were the only people there who even knew who Obsession was. His banner had “Bang Them Till They Bleed!” written on it and halfway through the set, the singer told the crowd that they were going to play it even though it wasn’t on the setlist just because he had it on his banner. How freaking cool was that? I have my original autographed copy of that setlist and that song was definitely not listed.
Before their set ended, a few of the guys ran backstage really quickly and came out with cameras in their hands. They took a few pictures of the 4 of us, their true fans. We flipped out. I’ve never seen a band do that. After their set, they came out into the crowd and found us and we ended up hanging out with them the whole time Battlezone was on the stage. They were the nicest guys and very grateful that they had some fans. It was an awesome night all the way around and one of my fondest concert memories.
A few years later, Obsession’s singer Mike Vescera ended up singing for Yngwie on 2 albums. When that tour rolled through, I got to the venue early and saw the tour bus. It was mid afternoon at the oceanfront and no one was hanging around…I think it was early winter/late fall. I knocked on the tour bus door and johnny toolbag opens the door and says in an assholish manner, “Yngwie’s not seeing anyone today!” I told the guy I was there to see Vescera. “He’s not seeing anyone either, now go away.” I started yelling out “Obsession! Loudness!” as Mike sang for both bands. Next thing I know Mike pushes the dude out of the way saying, “Get the fuck out of here, I’ll talk to this guy.”
So Mikey comes off of the bus and we chit chat for a bit. He signs my Obsession records (yes, records) and my Loudness stuff and I tell him I saw Obsession back in the day at the Boathouse and how me and my group of friends made banners for them. He started getting all excited and said, “Dude, we took pictures of you guys! That was our favorite stop on the whole tour because someone actually knew who we were!” You could really see and hear his sincerity. It was awesome and he was thankful for my fanboyness. They rocked that night too.
I was in touch with Obsessions drummer, Jay Mezias, for a while but haven’t spoken to him in about a year. Not sure what happened to the rest of them. I think one was in jail in the late 80s for drugs. No matter, those Obsession albums stand the test of time. The latest one is pretty good too, but without the original 2 guitarists, it just didn’t sound like Obsession to me.
Good times.
The Metal Files 
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