YNGWIE MALMSTEEN

THE ASTOR THEATRE

PERTH, WA AUSTRALIA

Saturday 6th June 2015

MALMSTEEN PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS IN PERTH, THE REST OF AUSTRALIA CAN'T MISS THIS...

Guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen is one of those guitar players that has to be seen to be appreciated. For his complex playing alone which is mindblowingly good and his stage persona which is purely entertaining to watch, Malmsteen puts on a show well worth the time and money. His first show in Australia after just arriving from Auckland, New Zealand after a great show there a couple of days ago for the 2015 tour was a great start for a string of shows to come.

It was all about Malmsteen tonight as he was followed by a trimmed 3 piece band and no support act but that didn't matter as people were here to only see the great guitarist himself. Kicking things off with the classic "Rising Force" off the "Odyssey" album, it took me back to the very first time I heard his music. It was in fact this song that kickstarted my interest in his music in the first place so from my standpoint it was the perfect opener. The first part of the show was mostly vocal filled songs with keyboardist Nick Marino handling the voice duties for the most part. I will say that these tracks are not my most favorite Malmsteen songs as they come across as somewhat powermetal with a tinge of 80's rock. It's not the style that turns me off however, the fact is when it comes to that style of music I find other bands who do a better job. Where Malmsteen and his music are at their strongest is when they focus on the instrumental stuff, the neo-classically infused rock and even the blues based numbers which while being few and far between, is still awesome to hear. When he pulls out the classical guitar and goes into "Acoustic Paraphrase", it's hard not to be impressed and shows no matter what kind of guitar he has, he can still pull off some amazing skills. "Baroque & Roll" is a highlight and one of my favorite Malmsteen tracks, the classical style a big plus and just an awesome combination of great melody and tremendous talent.

"Heaven Tonight" ended the first long part of the show before the encore proceedings and while bass player Ralph Ciavolino acted as the cheerleader for the night, he along with Malmsteen tried their very best to get the crowd to sing along for this one but for whatever reason, the crowd couldn't get into it. The crowd was rowdy enough during the night, at least as much as a seated audience can get, but whether they even knew the lyrics to this one may be a reason why. But despite that it was a great show, Malmsteen was on fire as usual and his charismatic self always entertaining. He didn't say much during the show aside from a few words at the beginning of the night but he didn't have to, his performance spoke for itself.

INTERVIEW WITH YNGWIE MALMSTEEN

words by Andrew Schizodeluxe

photos by the Rockpit