Guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen is featured in a new Guitar World Q&A session. Following is an excerpt.
Guitar World: Tell us about your first gig.
Malmnsteen: "I was about eight. I had an electric guitar with a little amp, and although it wasn’t a good one, it made a lot of noise. It was at my school in the cafeteria, which had a sort of a stage. I had asked one of my school friends to play drums, but he said he didn’t know how to, so I showed him how – so we could play the gig, which we did. I was on stage doing my shit, throwing my guitar around and being crazy onstage. I’m an extremist in everything I do. More is more in everything."
Guitar World: Have you ever had a terrible show?
Malmsteen: "I’ve always had the ability to bounce back from almost anything. I have what they call ‘tennis memory,’ so if something starts going wrong, whether it’s my fault or not, I’ll just turn around and go, 'Well, fuckin’ watch this!' and will do something outrageous in order to make everything better. For the last 30 years or more, I’ve never allowed myself a bad show. It’s always in my hands, so if I allow myself to let it slip and go out of control, it’s my fault and I will go off stage feeling shitty."
Guitar World: What’s your proudest moment?
Malmsteen: "It’s my latest album, Parabellum. It was made in a very different way than I have done in a while. For the last 15 years, I’d go on the road then go into the studio and continue that cycle, but with Covid, it stopped all of that. So I was in the studio constantly for one year. I must have written something like 100 songs, 80 or 90 pieces, and for me those songs on the album were the crème de la crème."
Read the complete Q&A here.
On November 23rd, 2021 Malmsteen performed at The Capitol Room in Harrisburg, PA. Fan-filmed video is available below.
The setlist on the night was as follows:
"Rising Force"
"Top Down, Foot Down"
"Soldier"
"Relentless Fury"
"Into Valhalla"
"Like an Angel (For April)"
"(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum"
"Badinerie" (Johann Sebastian Bach)
"Paganini Violin Concerto No.4 in D Minor"
"Adagio in G minor" (Remo Giazotto)
"Far Beyond the Sun / The Star-Spangled Banner"
"Seventh Sign"
"Overture"
"Evil Eye"
"Wolves at the Door"
"Smoke on the Water" (Deep Purple)
"Trilogy Suite Op: 5"
"Presto Vivace in C# Minor"
"Blue"
- Fugue / Guitar Solo / Drum Solo -
"You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget"
Encore:
"Black Star"
