Yngwie Malmsteen, It’s always a pleasure to have the ‘maestro’ back again in Buenos Aires.
And who would have even thought that it would take less than a year?
In 2025, Yngwie played in an almost sold-out venue, returning to Argentina after 3 years of waiting.
This time, fans didn’t have to wait that long.
Last night, April 2nd, master Malmsteen played at the Teatro Gran Rivadavia, in Floresta town, where every fan of shredding guitar showed up and occupied almost every single seat of the theater. Even Patricio Sardelli from the massive local Rock band Airbag was there!
The first guitar riffs of the evening came from ON/OFF, a local duo formed by Javier Herlein, ex-member of Catupecu Machu. The curious thing was that only Javi showed up at this gig, as a solo performance.
A few minutes after 21 o’clock, we heard guitar licks being played from backstage, even though the stage was still empty. That kind of guitar playing was unmistakable. Yngwie was already plugged in and wanted us to be prepared for what was coming next.
The lights went off, the band on stage, all of them in position; then, Yngwie showed up, and the madness began with “Rising Force”. Mick sang that one while playing keyboards. He’s well prepared to sing those really high notes.
Setlist continued with a fragment of “Top Down, Foot Down” connected with one of “No Rest for the Wicked”. And, after playing “Soldier”, he made the same thing with “Into Valhalla” and “Baroque and Roll”; followed by “Relentless Fury”, from his latest record “Parabellum” (where he got tired of dramas with singers and started recording his own vocals).
“Like an Angel for April”, “Now Your Ships Are Burned”, “Wolves at the Door” and “(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum” (these last two are from his last album as well. A lot of his argentinian fans saw him singing for the first time ever that night), were the next songs on the setlist, followed by a Metal version of classical tunes, such as “Badinerie” by Johan Sebastian Bach and “Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor” by Niccoló Paganini. Every time Yngwie plays, there’s always a moment to show some respect to the classical composers that inspired this amazing subgenre called “Neoclassical Metal”, in which Malmsteen could easily be the most recognizable artist.
The fan service time came with “Far Beyond the Sun”, which ended with a snippet of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen (more specifically, the incredible guitar solo), and then “Seventh Sign”, sung by Mick.
There was a time when Yngwie seemed pissed off with the lights and kept on making signs with his hands to the lighting designer. Emilio, his bass player, who knew a little more about speaking Spanish, said: “No more white lights, please”.
Leaving that situation behind, “Toccata”, “Fire and Ice,” and “Evil Eye” were the next songs. A then, a partial cover of the classic Deep Purple tune “Smoke on the Water”.
A fragment of “Trilogy Suite Op. 5” was played and suddenly connected with “Vengeance”; those medley moments happened a lot in the concert. Followed by a guitar solo by the master himself, where the other musicians left the stage for a while.
They returned to play all together “Blue” and “Fugue”. And, after a drum solo from Kevin, people went crazy when they heard the keyboard intro from “You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget”.
Yngwie said goodbye, and people started chanting for an encore, in which Malmsteen brought a Spanish guitar to play a solo with a taste of Flamenco, and gave us the beautiful intro from “Black Star”, where the band joined and played that magnificent song. But before we could start a massive applause at the end, the riff from “I’ll See the Light Tonight” showed up, where Mick took part in the vocals one last time.
Curiously, they didn’t play the whole song; it was more like a cut version of it. But, of course, it made everyone get out of their seats to bang their heads!
Review by Agustín Lopez
Photos by Diego Fioravanti, Press Courtesy
Produced by AKE MUSIC
Press ROAA – AGENCIA