Live Reviews : Yngwie J. Malmsteen @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 11/06/2015

Words: Jake Patton

Images: Amanda Brenchley

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There are many reasons that musicians decide to take up the guitar, whether that be for enjoyment, creativity, to play in a band – or even to emulate their favourite guitar player. Many guitar virtuoso’s have captivated players worldwide, with the neoclassical guitar style of names like Jason Becker, Tony MacAlpine, Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Loomis all coming to my mind as some of my immediate influences. Tonight, Brisbane had the privilege to witness first hand some of this magic with a performance by the musician credited as the greatest of the genre, non-other than Sweden’s Yngwie Malmsteen himself.

I was a bit surprised at the choice of venue for tonight, with the Tivoli being one of the larger venues in Brisbane, and I wasn’t sure whether or not there would be enough of a crowd coming out to a show like this on a Thursday night. To my surprise a decent crowd of between 200-300 people turned out, which far surpassed my expectations for the night.

I must admit that after hearing about the issues that occurred at the Melbourne show that I was a little bit worried about what might happen in Brisbane, but luckily enough these problems didn’t rear their head. We did however have to endure an hour long wait between doors opening at 7pm and the band taking the stage at 8pm, and a last minute guitar sound check five minutes before the bands proposed start time (which, with no supports should have been done way earlier). These were minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things and were quickly forgotten after the man himself took to the stage.

Performance wise, it was very difficult to fault Malmsteen. As someone who has been playing that fast and precise for so very long there wasn’t many notes that he missed. Probably the only time there was any fault with his guitar playing was after he had thrown a pick into the audience just before one of his runs and didn’t grab a new one in time. He quickly corrected it once he could and resumed from exactly where he would have been with no fault. Keyboardist/vocalist Nick Marinovich also performed exceptionally. His vocals stood up perfectly on several of the tracks from the back catalogue, not a particularly easy feat when previous vocalists include powerhouses like Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, Jeff Scott Soto and Mark Boals.

While there was a large amount of blank space on the stage, the show kept you engaged visually, with the smoke machines continuously joining with the stage lights to envelop band members in a pinky-blue hue that fitted perfectly with the Rock god image that people quite often associate with Malmsteen.

Yngwie’s and Nick’s stage costumes were great, with leather chaps and the vests/jackets to match. That being said I wasn’t too sure what the go was with Bassist Ralph Ciavolino’s outfit, as it looked like he had been down at Brisbane’s bayside during the day auditioning for Johnny Depp’s role of Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean. The one costume theme that everyone did have in common was their protruding chest hair, with none more glorious than the maestro’s himself.

Chest hair and leather chaps aside, the show had more air kicks than your average Bruce Lee film, with Malmsteen himself getting creative enough to use his kicks to launch guitar picks into the crowd every few minutes. It was great, but I do feel sorry for the poor guitar technician that was running out to fill up the pick clips every two songs.

A few things that didn’t work for me were Ralph’s handling of the intermissions in the set. Having already seen him perform this role on some Youtube clips of previous shows, he just seemed – well awkward. While I applaud the man for his effort in trying to garner the crowd’s attention, his jokes just fell flat a lot of the time. I understand that crowd engagement in those moments might be important for the band, but a simple “how are you all doing?” from Malmsteen himself would have probably attracted better response than that which was handed to Ciavolino. Additionally I thought that the way that the band handled the exit of the photographers was a bit distasteful. Following third track “Razor Eater” (the photographers queue to leave) the band trailed directly into “Damnation Game” and then proceeded to wave goodbye or shoo away the photographers. For any that aren’t familiar with the music it would be difficult to know if there was a transition, and I assume most of the photographers on the night weren’t that familiar with Malmsteen.

The hour and a half long set went for the perfect duration. Any longer and I think that people might have started to leave, as after a while the music all starts blending into the same sound. There was a good mix during the set with constant tempo changes between Malmsteen’s solo work, group instrumental work, and adding in vocal tracks at different times during the set.

After concluding the earliest I have ever had a show finish (9:30pm on a weeknight – and that’s after the encore) I couldn’t help but feel that the night could have been made that bit better with a support act. But that still didn’t stop me from using that inspiration and motivation from the show to head home, pick up my guitar and play a few notes.

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