Yngwie or the Highway
Guitar World, January 2002
No one doubts Yngwie Malmsteen has the mettle to back up his metal. But when the Swedish shredmeister stood up for America before a South American audience, he demonstrated his courage.
On October 2, three weeks after the terrorist air strikes on the U.S., Malmsteen treated the audience at this concert in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and was roundly booed.
"The majority of the crowd was great," says Malmsteen from his Florida home. "I didn't leave the stage because I knew most of the crowd wasn't booing, but enough people were doing it, so it could be heard very clearly." Unfortunately, things quickly went from bad to worse following Malmsteen's solo. "After I play my guitar solo, there are separate keyboard, bass and drum solos," he explains. "That's when people started yelling, 'Osama! Osama!' That was just a bit too much."
Adds Yngwie keyboardist Derek Sherinian, "To see the anti-American rallies on TV is bad enough, but to be in the middle of one is scary beyond words. When the band went backstage after the final song, I told Yngwie, 'I refuse to go out for an encore.' "
Undaunted, Malmsteen returned to the stage alone and once again struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner." "I told the crowd that I was going to play it one more time. I told them, 'If you start booing I'm leaving.' And sure enough, the crowd started booing after the first few bars. So I said, 'God bless America, and fuck you all,' and walked offstage."
Malmsteen quickly clarifies that his words were not meant against Brazil. "I love Brazil," he says. I just responded spontaneously as if I had been punched in the face. I'm a musician, not a politician, and I was just playing a song." As for his fervent devotion to America, Yngwie explains, "I've been living in the States more than half my life, and I love this country."
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