Sunday, 19th November 2006, Metro City, Perth
Perths guitar loving faithful descended upon the Metro City club in Northbridge, for Yngwie Malmsteen's first ever visit to Perth, and expectations were high.
I must admit it was strange to be void of any support acts, for not just Black Steel and Voyager's chance to showcase their talents , but also I felt that it deflated a little bit of the feeling of anticipation for the main act.
But once inside the venue, it all changed. The crowd was a healthy size and age mix, and there was definately a noticeable buzz in the atmosphere.
The Wall of the finest Marshall Amps and the smoke machine, set the scene as the Leather clad, Ferrari drivin', Rolex wearing guitar hero, Mr Yngwie Malmsteen, swaggered on to the stage with his backing band featuring Derek Sherinian, Patrik Johansson, Mic Cervino, and ex-Rainbow vocalist Dougie White in tow.
It was hard to believe this was the final leg of their Australian tour. It was as if it was the first show, the enthiusiasm and showmanship was highly contagious.
Yngwie mesmerised the crowd with a string of hits including Demon Driver, Dreaming, You Dont Remember I'll Never Forget, Far Beyond The Sun, Locked and Loaded, and a great encore including Black Star.
There were some rifftastic duels with Derek Sherinian, and some of the effects Yngwie was creating with his guitar was fantastic, not to mention the puckered lips and prune like faces he was pulling in the process.
Yngwie's roadie was kept very busy throughout the night, as Yngwie showered the crowd with pics, which were being replaced at a rapid rate. I lost count of the times Yngwie would twirl and twist his guitar and just throw it behind him, but the roadie made the catch every time.
Although my attention was firmly fixed on Yngwie's show, I had to look around every now and then to remind myself that I wasn't transported back to the 80's, it really had that type of feel to the show, it was almost illusion-like.
Over two hours later they took what seemed like a dozen collective bows to the crowd, and the fans headed to the exits, bearing witness to an amazing live guitar show, the way it was always meant to be done.
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