Yngwie Malmsteen // The 40th Anniversary Tour // The Button Factory // Dublin
Yngwie J. Malmsteen, what can you say about Yngwie J. Malmsteen that hasn’t already been said? Tonight, Yngwie and his band have landed back in Ireland (South) after a very long absence, some thirty-plus years since he rolled through Dublin, and tonight we have a sold-out venue (The Button Factory) to welcome him back to the fold.
So, my beautiful assistant and I have made the perilous journey from the North to the South to catch Yngwie celebrating 40 years as a solo artist. I was introduced to Malmsteen in my teens, staying at my brother’s flat in Dublin over the summer months, I would trawl through his record collection and stumble across a series of gems that would change my life forever. Amongst such gems was one Yngwie J Malmsteen and his seminal album ‘Marching Out’. Who was this? What was I listening to? This, of course, started a trip down a rabbit hole that would lead me to Steeler, Alcatrazz and of course ‘Rising Force’, Yngwie’s debut solo album and etched into guitar history as we know it today.
22 Studio albums later, Yngwie has seen off forty years as a solo artist and the ups and downs that this brings through an ever-changing landscape of the modern music industry, trends ever changing, and the popularity of guitar playing always a discussion point across an industry more obsessed with commercial appeal than the quality of the music itself. Tonight is a celebration of the tenacity of an artist such as Yngwie and his peers to keep on forging through, swimming against the tide, pursuing a career in a niche genre, and coming out on top. We are all gathered here this evening to celebrate this artist, his remarkable career, recordings and soak up that live experience in the flesh.
In support, we have two killer bands sprinkling their own magic to warm up the Irish crowd before the man himself sets the stage alight. Up first, we have Spirit War all the way from France. This trio is a blend of school metal and punk attitude that has the Dublin crowd whipped up into a frenzy. Their stage presence and gnarly sound have blown the cobwebs off the crowd, who had packed themselves into the room, and many have rammed themselves up against the barriers to get the full force of the air moving in the room and the passion pouring from the stage. Spirit War are having a blast, and the Irish crowd are feeding off their energy and giving as much back as they possibly can. A short but sweet set gives the band enough time to make their mark, and the roars of approval from the room tell me the Dublin crowd has accepted this French trio into their hearts and minds. Well played lads!
Up next, we have the magnificent Andry (Blues Metal Queen), and what a performance we got here! Now I didn’t quite know what to expect when the band took to the stage; everyone was so glam! Glorious hair, sparkly outfits, sparkly guitars and big smiles and then booom!! These crazy cats got stuck right in, Andry is wearing a crackled mirror catsuit and looks a million dollars! Her band are a fierce band of brothers and killer musicians who rip their way across a glorious set that really makes an impression. Andry, of course, and her powerhouse vocals are killer, but the sheer passion and stage presence of the band was a joy to watch; the guitar player and bassist interchanging, laying down glorious technical runs and stanky bass and guitar faces just made my night. One of the highlights was the cover of Deep Purple’s Highway Star’ that just rocked. A total contrast of course to what Yngwie represents, but a glorious palate cleanser to what is to come, symphonic power metal in your face, delivered by one of the most theatrical bands I’ve seen in a while! What’s not to love!
Photography: Mark McGrogan
@flashartmark #flashartmark
So, this is it, kids, the stage is cleared, the biggest and I mean biggest setlist both in physical size and length, 26 songs, I believe, is stuck to the stage floor. All those classic beauties are there, and the anticipation builds towards 9 pm when Yngwie takes the stage, finally the lights drop and it’s showtime!
Yngwie’s cutting tone screams out as he tests out his guitars plugged in and ready to rock, it is, and sweet baby Jesus, it sounds good. As expected, Yngwie opens up with ‘Rising Force’, the opening track from ‘Odyssey’, what a killer way to kick off his set, a fan fav and one glorious tune that came from Malmsteen’s most commercially successful recording. For the next 90 minutes the room is treated to a cacophony of blistering guitar work from one of the greatest, for so many he is a devisive player, too fast, too many notes but Malmsteen’s background is built on the foundation of classical music and classic rock, so his note choices are clear and defined, not just a barrage of senseless notes and scales that feel like nails on a chalboard, Malmstee’s style mimmic’s his heroes the likes of Bach, Chopin and Mozart who led him down this path to gargantuan sensory songwriting and technical brilliance. The rock came from the founders, whom we have all called upon to influence and inspire.
We get treated to such a vast collection of Yngwie’s songs that you can barely keep up. There are bursts of songs within songs; you can hear solos from his Alcatrazz days fused in between more contemporary numbers. But every single as glorious as the last, Yngwie’s signature style overflowing across the room, bursts of furious speed, then a piercing vibrato on a sustained note, you can hear every nuance of those Fury YJM pickups and a wall of Marshall amps! Roars of approval with everyone, the room is completely rammed, and after I have done my work in the pit, I take myself outside the door of the room and watch from the side, phones aloft as the punters fight to get every second they can on film to make the occasion. The pace is intense and there’s barely time to catch your breath between songs and those 26 tracks listed by Yngwie’s feet fly by. Some will of course mean more to some than others, but all the gems are there, ‘Far Beyond The Sun’, ‘Trilogy’ ‘Now Your Ships Are Burned’ and ‘Black Star’ of course and the infamous ‘I’ll See The Light Tonight’ each one has memories flooding back of our youth and the moment you first heard these tracks, I remember vivdly letting a friend listen to Trilogy on a bus in Dublin as a teen travelling from the city centre to our home in Rathfarnham and seeing his face light up at the chaos of the tune itself.
This is what it’s all about: these life experiences that we have shared over the years that artists such as Yngwie can only bring into our lives, shape our perception of what music is and take us down a rabbit hole we are never fully prepared for. I could and probably should set up the Irish chapter of the ‘Yngwie Malmsteen Emotional Support Group” #trademarked The room was packed with people all in need of help! Probably more so today as they crash from withdrawal symptoms! But alas, all good things come to an end, and as the last glorious notes ring out and the guys and dolls within the room come to terms that this night is indeed over, we catch one last glimpse of our musical hero as he takes a bow and fist raised lives on to fight another day.
40 years in the making, one magical night packed with memories shared with like-minded friends all celebrating our favourite Swedish guitar god. Hopefully, we won’t need to wait another three decades to share an evening together again.
Photography: Mark McGrogan
@flashartmark #flashartmark
