Yngwie Malmsteen Concert causes Riots in Porto Alegre....

October 10, 2001 7:56 AM

Yngwie Malmsteen Concert causes Riots in Porto Alegre.... for playing the Star-Spangled banner as a solo... Whoo Hoo... 80's Hair Metal rocker from another country makes a stand... sheesh.. if I was cynical, I'd almost think he did it to get back into the news.
posted by niteHawk (19 comments total)

"I don't give a f*** if I ever play your peasant infested third world city again."

I under stand the emotion but that wasn't necessary.

Yngwie! Rock! :)
posted by the_ill_gino at 8:07 AM on October 10, 2001

I thought he was dead.
posted by dong_resin at 8:13 AM on October 10, 2001

Dude, me too! I just kind of assumed he was dead! Wow. I bet that's a crappy crappy show.
posted by UrbanFigaro at 8:19 AM on October 10, 2001

They waited that long to start booing? They should be commended for their restraint.
posted by Skot at 8:24 AM on October 10, 2001

Yngwie Malmsteen. It's an anagram of "Yemen: I'm wet glans."
posted by pracowity at 8:26 AM on October 10, 2001

HAHAH...
posted by the_ill_gino at 8:27 AM on October 10, 2001

On a side note it took Yngwie 4,325 notes to finish the song, compared to hendrix's 37.
posted by justgary at 8:32 AM on October 10, 2001

Yes, but each of Yngwie's notes only took 1/100th of a second to play.

In other news, Steve Vai played the Star Spangled Banner, but no one listening could recognize it.

(Actually, Steve's got a free MP3 of Amazing Grace on his site. Anyone with speakers, tell me how it is.)
posted by Jart at 8:40 AM on October 10, 2001

Steve's version of Amazing Grace is pretty cool, but a great deal is unrecognizable. Still, I'm a huge Vai fan, so I don't really care. He could play Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and I'd be happy.
posted by starvingartist at 8:48 AM on October 10, 2001

Heh, good old Yngwie. Having once been a shredder-type guitarist, I used to keep up with Yngwie's doings, but I haven't heard anything about him in years. Looks like he's still a shit-magnet, always getting into one dustup after another.

starvingartist: If you can find an mp3 called Formula 1, it's a nice greasy slab of funk from Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.
posted by nikzhowz at 9:00 AM on October 10, 2001

or to sell tubes :)
posted by kliuless at 9:51 AM on October 10, 2001

although i appreciate his emotion, when a keyboard player of a metal band disses your country on his web site, im not sure it packs a lot of punch.

but i totally loved the story and i had no clue that american dissent was so rampant outside of the lush green grass of berkeley.
posted by tsarfan at 10:33 AM on October 10, 2001

And he's from Sweden to boot! File this under international shows of support.

Well, maybe he has become a US citizen since the days of yore, when I read about Mr. Malmsteen and his scalloped fretboard and what strings he uses in Guitar Player magazine.

Couple of my guitar geek friends drove to see him last spring at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem.

Apparently, he fuckin' shredded.
posted by crunchburger at 10:37 AM on October 10, 2001

I think the fact that Yngwie went out to do an encore of Star Spangled Banner was very nice of him.

My question is: What kind of a fan goes to a Malmsteen show not expecting to hear Star Spangled Banner? Esp. since Yngwie is known to play it as a tribute to Hendrix.
posted by riffola at 10:45 AM on October 10, 2001

Know Porto Alegre well: great place. Never heard of Ynmghrwtycwl. Checked link. Thanked God for this inbalance.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:48 AM on October 10, 2001

I was an American living in Porto Alegre during the Gulf War. For a bunch of pretty laid back cattle ranchers, they can get really, really worked up over stuff like this. When I was down there, getting only local news (and dubbed-over CNN footage), I was pretty convinced that the USA was getting it's behind kicked by Iraq. It was a (pleasant) surprise to learn that wasn't the case at all.

Brazil is an amazing country. Compared to Brasileiros, Americans -- across the board -- appear as racist, whining, lazy, self-indulgent, and conceited. OTOH, Brasileiros are much more likely to jump to stupid conclusions, believe rumors, and avoid responsibility. About a wash as far as goodness goes.

In the end, though, I think that Brazil will come to our side. Including Rio Grande do Sul (which is the state in which PoA is located, and is the Quebec of Brazil).
posted by terceiro at 11:02 AM on October 10, 2001

I was an American living in Porto Alegre during the Gulf War. For a bunch of pretty laid back cattle ranchers, they can get really, really worked up over stuff like this. When I was down there, getting only local news (and dubbed-over CNN footage), I was pretty convinced that the USA was getting it's behind kicked by Iraq. It was a (pleasant) surprise to learn that wasn't the case at all.

Brazil is an amazing country. Compared to Brasileiros, Americans -- across the board -- appear as racist, whining, lazy, self-indulgent, and conceited. OTOH, Brasileiros are much more likely to jump to stupid conclusions, believe rumors, and avoid responsibility. About a wash as far as goodness goes.

In the end, though, I think that Brazil will come to our side. Including Rio Grande do Sul (which is the state in which PoA is located, and is the Quebec of Brazil).
posted by terceiro at 11:02 AM on October 10, 2001

Thats a great article. I would have loved to seen that.
posted by darth_smoothies at 12:03 PM on October 10, 2001

he left the stage under a rain of beer cups, sandwiches, snacks, plastic bottles and everything people could throw at him.

They should have thrown some vowels on stage, which Yngwie could use to fill out his first name.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:16 AM on October 11, 2001