The Swedish maestro, Yngwie Malmsteen, made a stunning return to my hometown and I couldn’t be more excited. After a dry spell of concerts in the early spring, the year finally picked up when the man himself marked Tower Theater in Fresno, CA as a date on his Blue Lightning tour. I saw Malmsteen perform for the first time at the 2016 Hair Nation Festival. I remember being in awe the entire time, having an endless run of sweep picking running through my head. Needless to say, I needed a front row seat this time.
Now, there’s nothing I hate more than opening bands, but this was a rare case of me being glad I got to the show early. The first group, Paralandra, was a Christian rock act with a heavy blues attitude and a very metal appearance. Awesome set filled with impressive vocals and smooth riffs. Next up was a band that caught me off guard. Sunlord, a New York trio with a strong Motörhead vibe, played a killer set of straight-ahead crossover sounding material which was the last thing I expected from an Yngwie gig. However, I was satisfied to see the boomer audience taken aback by the ruthless New York spirit kicking ass on stage.
Soon enough, it was time for the maestro to be the center of attention as the lights when down and he started playing by the side of the stage. There is NOTHING more epic than Malmsteen emerging from the darkness with way too much fog filling up the air as he tears into the opening track on my favorite album of his, Rising Force from Odyssey.
It was incredible to see him maneuver up and down the fretboard by pure instinct. The evening was filled with unthinkable solos and scales that blew my mind each time.
And it wasn’t just Malmsteen that impressed me. The entire band delivered the performance. The majority of the lineup came from a badass American power metal band NZM from Florida. Mark Ellis, who played on his recent album World On Fire, absolutely killed behind the kit with all the lightning speed necessary for a Malmsteen set. Ralph Ciavolino and Nick Marino both dominated as a stellar rhythm section. Marino’s voice is very unique and serves justice to every era of the band’s singers.
Unfortunately, this was the first time I didn’t get to hear one of my favorite tunes in the set, Now Your Ship Are Burned, yet it still ended up being the best show I’ve seen from him.
Ironically, the blusey section was cut from the set which is odd considering the central theme of Blue Lightning. In exchange for his awesome cover of Red House, I was hoping to see the Demon’s Eye cover that he was switching on and off each show. Ultimately, I missed that too. All of these missed opportunities still did not take away from the songs I was lucky enough to hear. Seventh Sign sounded better than ever before with Marino nailing each note.
I also noticed some new tricks added to the performance. Between some songs, Malmsteen would use a distortion pedal that shook the entire room and made an ominous sound. The perfect segway to introduce the next song. Another cool moment was his use of the delay pedal usually during his more classical, clean sounding solos. It was great to see something different and made it more memorable overall.
The night came to an incredible end with Malmsteen going out on his two high notes, I’ll See The Light Tonight and Black Star, never showing a dull moment through and throughout.
All in all, it was the perfect experience to get a front row sight of the best guitar player on the planet. The ultimate and undefeated guitar hero to say the least. Seeing him in the full live setting was nothing short of amazing.
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