The incomparable Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the greatest guitarists to ever walk the earth. So, when the chance arises to witness the maestro in a live setting, you take notice. That mesmerizing spectacle is captured on his new release, Tokyo Live.
Recorded at Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo on May 11, 2024, as part of his 40th Anniversary World Tour, Tokyo Live sees Malmsteen dig deep into his extensive catalogue. Backed by a towering wall of Marshall stacks, he unleashes a furious set of neoclassical shred with trademark flair. “Playing live in front of people is really what it’s all about,” Malmsteen says. “It’s exciting and dangerous because you have to take risks, and there’s no fixing afterwards.”
Clocking in at 100 minutes, the setlist spans the full scope of his career—from “Hiroshima Mon Amour” and “Evil Eye,” through classics like “Rising Force,” “Far Beyond the Sun,” and “Seventh Sign,” to material from 2021’s Parabellum, including “Wolves at the Door,” “Relentless Fury,” and “(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum.” He even throws in fiery renditions of “Paganini’s 4th” and “Smoke on the Water.”
Mark Dean recently had the chance to chat with Yngwie himself, looking back on his legacy and ahead to what’s next.
Antihero Magazine: Congratulations on your 40-year history in the music industry. When you look back from Rising Force to now, what stands out most?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Well, I mean, there are a few things that obviously are more than others, but I’d say everything that I’ve done from shows to records and everything, it’s always been to the best of my ability at that time. So everything’s like a snapshot of that moment. I mean, so obviously the classical thing was a lot of things that I’m very proud of, but it seems to me the most important thing is, firstly this morning in the first interview I did was in my studio. Right now, I’m driving, but before the interview, I was plugging in, and I immediately came up with new ideas and new counterpoints and melodies and everything. So it’s a weird thing because it never gets old. It’s like every day is a new day. So I don’t really reflect much on what I’ve done before. It’s more like what I’m going forward, you know what I mean?
Antihero Magazine: How has your relationship with the guitar evolved over these four decades?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Well, I mean, it’s not only the guitar. I’m a composer, so I compose all the parts for all the instruments and vocals and lyrics and you name it. And so obviously, I like to think that I’ve expanded my vocabulary in all these departments, but again, I don’t really reflect much on that. I mean, I think that every time I pick up the guitar, I improvised and something feels like something new. You know what I mean? So I don’t really think much about what happened before.
Antihero Magazine: After all these years, how do you stay inspired and continue pushing boundaries?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Again, that’s the same thing where I always improvise and out of the improvisation, there’s a composition all of a sudden and it becomes exciting. Oh wow, cool. Hey, you can move now. There’s so many from me. So the inspiration comes from always automatically exploring new things because of improvisation, right? Number one. Number two, if you’re on stage, obviously the audience is a huge part of the excitement. You know what I mean? It’s all of those things.
Antihero Magazine: And of course that leads us on, you were talking there about the live experience in front of an audience. What can fans expect from Tokyo Live that sets it apart from your previous live releases?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Oh, live. Well, it’s better. No, but I think it’s a good one. I mean, obviously it’s one night out of a tour of almost three years. So I think it’s a good one. I mean, I think it’s a good, inspired evening. I think it has all the ingredients to make a good record.
Antihero Magazine: And any particular reason why you chose Tokyo as the location for the live show? Is it a city that holds special significance, maybe some special memories for you personally?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Well, obviously it it is a special place, but it wasn’t, it was by accident almost, because I played on the tour, I played, oh, I dunno, Singapore, Australia, Bulgaria, I mean, you name it, I played, I mean, every state of the United States, south America, whatever, Turkey, India, China, communist, China, whatever. I played all these places and they were all really, really great. But when I came to Tokyo, Japan, actually, we played a couple of other cities. Also, the promoters go, we want to record and film the show. And I’m like, okay, just for Japan, right? Yeah, yeah. Just for Japan. And I said, if it’s good, I want to put it out for the rest of the world. Okay, no problem. Because what happened was after the Parabellum album, we toured L World like five or six times in the States and three, four times in Europe. Everywhere kept on going. And by 23, 24, they said, oh, it’s 40 years. And I said, oh, yeah, let’s call the tour the 40th anniversary tour. So the tour was called that then all of a sudden. So it’s sort of calculated, but yet not, you know what I’m saying? It’s like it’s a happy coincidence.
Antihero Magazine: Was it difficult putting together a setlist for a show like this?
Yngwie Malmsteen: I never do the same set list.
I write about 45 minutes- an hour before the show, I tell the guys, come into my room and I said, okay, here’s the songs we’re going to do. Print ’em out, put ’em on a stage. I print the set list all over the stage, and I go on stage and I play a different set.
Yeah, because it’s completely… It’s never the same on this. And also, after all these years of so many records and songs and stuff, it’s almost impossible to put songs in that you want to do. So one night I might do one song and another one I do another one. And the only one I kind of add, especially for this set, was the Hiroshima Mon Amour song. That was especially added on. But that was pretty much it. Other than that, it’s the same, same and not the same as the rest of the world.
Antihero Magazine: Was it a challenge to capture your live energy on the recording?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Well, the trick is to forget that you’re being recorded. The trick is to totally ignore it. Because if you start thinking, oh, film not being recorded, you might not do the risky stuff. You might not be as spontaneous, you might not be as risky. So I just have to say, Hey, if it fucks up, it fucks up, but I’m not going to hold back.
Antihero Magazine: How do you prepare for a live show—mentally, physically, musically? You say you choose the set list during the night, but is it difficult to prepare mentally and physically for a live performance?
Yngwie Malmsteen: No, not really. I mean, it’s, the thing is I know what to do, but yet I know what I’m not. It’s a very fluid thing where inspiration is going to be the more important thing than anything. So, everything has to be perfect. So it soundcheck can make sure all the lights and everything, smoke machines and everything is perfect, because I don’t want to go on stage and have surprises that somebody’s decided to do so, because that will affect me once I have that, it’s just a matter of cycling up and then automatically by going in front of ’em, it happens. I mean, you got to be able to learn how to live dangerously a little bit on the stage. You can’t just be safe because it’s boring.
Antihero Magazine: How do you get that blend and that balance there between the studio versions of the song and also, I mean, when you perform live, you want to improvise within the song itself. Is it difficult to get that balance between improvisation but sticking at the same time to the studio version of the song?
Yngwie Malmsteen: So the song has a skeleton, and the solos are improvised on the record. So I never duplicate, improvise solo. You know what I’m saying? So every night I perform that song, I will improvise another solo. But if it’s an F sharp minor, I know which notes go in that scale.
It’s in B, I play that. So it’s not like I’m just kind of, oh, well, I’m going to do a jazz thing. No, it’s very structured. But by the way, do you know the great composers, Bach and Beethoven, Vivaldi and Paganini and all those guys, they were improvisers.
Is funny because we go into the classical world today, there’s no improvisation. It’s only from the paper. But those guys would’ve what’s called den. So it’s improvised, and that’s the beauty of music for me. But the thing is that it’s not like it’s going to be, oh, wow, that sounds weird. No, it’s going to be within that note, in that mode, that key, in that mode. And it’s not going to sound weird. It’s just going to sound about us. Interesting.
Antihero Magazine: Tokyo Live celebrates your legacy, but you said earlier that you should look forward rather than focusing on the past. Are there any hints you can give about maybe future studio releases?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Yeah, I’m in the studio, well, not right this minute, but I was about half an hour ago, so I’m messing around, I’m putting songs together. I have some touring coming up, so it’s going to be a little bit of a break from the studio. But yeah, I’m ready. I’m in talks, you know what I mean?
So it depends on the timing and scheduling, but no, I’m for sure I’m constantly writing new stuff.
Antihero Magazine: Do you see yourself exploring any new musical directions or collaborations in the coming years? Something that maybe you haven’t even done before? Something different? You’re saying that you always like to create new music, new things. What about maybe taking your music in a new direction or different direction, maybe something you haven’t done before?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Well, I’ve already done that. And also the thing is that when you are the person that spearhead something, when you are the person that creates a certain genre…It’s something that’s built into you. You’re not following anything. It’s natural…
It’s a natural thing what you are all about. So I’m not pretending to do something or I’m not trying to do something. It just happens. And whatever is the natural thing that flows out of me at that moment, that’s what it’s going to be. And so I’ve done bluesy things. I’ve done acoustic things, little classical things. I’ve done all sorts of weird shit. But what is coming out as a natural expression of me, me as a person, composer, and so on, is what it is. And I embrace that because it’s like the guy’s like AC DC, they play the same three chords for 50 years, and they do it better than everybody in the world. No one can do what they do.
A lot of people could try to do those three chords or maybe four chords, but no one can do it like them.
That genre is theirs. And that goes from many other artists too. Once you have that, you’re not following a trend. You are not on the coat of somebody else and become famous, because that’s the trend of the day. You are a spearheader, you somebody started something, the other people follow.
You are one of those people, you don’t think in those terms. You just let it happen. And I consider myself one of those because I don’t try to do anything. I mean, I could, could do, you want me to do it? I could do a death metal record. I could do whatever content, western, whatever you want. But that’s not what I want. I just want to let it happen. And that to me is the beauty of music where it’s sort of like a gift almost.
Antihero Magazine: What advice would you give to the next generation of guitarists who grew up idolising your playing? Is there any sort of advice or maybe any help you can give them?
Yngwie Malmsteen: It all depends on what the individual is trying to achieve. If they’re trying to achieve technical prowess or being able to play something that someone else already played or whatever that goal is, is a different answer. You know what I mean? So if for instance, you just want to be a really good guitar player, just keep on playing.
All it is. That’s all it is. There’s no trick to all that. You could be a good clarinet player, same thing, but in particular guitar, it seems like it’s a very, people like to play to find their hero, and they want to be like them. And that’s nothing wrong with that, but go so far with that. You know what I mean?
Just keep on playing. That’s my advice.
Antihero Magazine: If you could go back in time and give advice to a young Yngwie just releasing Rising Force, what would you say?
Yngwie Malmsteen: That’s a really good question, that’s a clever question. I could probably think of a few things, but it’s like that Back to the Future movie, you’re not supposed to change anything, so leave it like it is. That could have, if I changed it, it might have ended up in a different today, so I just leave it like it’s fuck ups and everything.
Antihero Magazine: You mentioned that you’ve still got a lot of touring to do before you could release or even consider going back into the studio. Just wondering if that touring schedule involves going to UK.
Yngwie Malmsteen: Yes—100%. Yes. It’s Ireland and UK. Yeah, Wolverhampton, London, Dublin. I can’t remember off the top of my head at the end of July. And then I think I’ve seen some Italian gigs, but I really don’t know the exact schedule yet. But I do know we have South America in June, South America and Mexico in June, and then Europe immediately after that, and then Asia after that.
Antihero Magazine: Still keeping busy after 40 years!
Yngwie Malmsteen: Oh yeah.
Antihero Magazine: Still enjoying it?
Yngwie Malmsteen: Absolutely. Very much
Antihero Magazine: Thank you very much for chatting with me today.
Yngwie Malmsteen: Thank you! My pleasure.
Source: www.antiheromagazine.com
