Malmsteen - Heaven Tonight video shoot

Back in 1987 or 88 my brother and I heard on the radio that Yngvie would be shooting a video at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. So we decided to go and check it out. I think it took 2-3 hours to film. Maybe 100 people stayed for the whole thing. They put us in various seats in the arena and did some crowd shots. Then they moved us to the floor when the band came out. They played to a music track over and over and over. The drummer was the only one who actually played. I see myself around 2:20 on the left side of the screen (the only "white" face you can kind of see). I am just standing there. At concerts for me it was an experience where I would stand there and view everything and study guitar licks, etc. I am probably the only one not moving. I can clearly see my brother at 3:34 to the right of Malsteen when the video is paused. Over the years we have watched it but since it was on TV we didn't have a way to pause and look at the crowd. My brother said he sees himself twice in the video and we just found the one at 3:34 yesterday. No idea why they chose Knoxville, TN because they did not play there on that tour.

That's awesome, bro! I always wished someone (especially some one I liked) would film a video near me as a kid. It would have blew my mind.

I had a friend of a friend who was in KISS' Hide Your Heart video. He was in the crowd of people at the end of the video watching the body being placed in the ambulance (easily spotted because he was wearing a white ballcap). He let us know about it well in advance and even got Gene Simmon's autograph out of it. He said he was just walking down the street and someone came up to him and asked him if he wanted to be in a video shoot.

Whitesnake filmed a video for 'Now You're Gone' at the old Spectrum arena. Me and a few friends are up in the rafters.

When I first got into Malmsteen - Steeler - Rising Force - NEVER - did I think he'd be doing a cheesy video like that - ever - Didn't David Lee Roth have a song of the same title, ' Just like Paradise " . I thought Malmsteen was new, great, innovative, the young viking - but after watching THAT video, way back when, I just knew that the metal scene was going super-pop - and down. It took a few years. I remember when Bon Jovi did something corny, like give everyone a video camera - Malmsteen always shot himself in the foot, like that. He'd hassle the singers, but never the video director - lol.

That's so cool! What a great memory.

I always assumed the "concert" videos (at least the ones that showed the audience) were shot at the concerts themselves, i didnt know they were done like mike described.

Hadley wrote:

I always assumed the "concert" videos (at least the ones that showed the audience) were shot at the concerts themselves, i didnt know they were done like mike described.

Maybe some of them are, but the Whitesnake video I mentioned was shot during the day. If memory serves correctly, a day or 2 before, the local radio station announced that anyone could come down and enter the arena and take part. I think my buddy that worked at Tower Records tipped us off too. We went just for the hell of it. Whitesnake probably played that night.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Hadley wrote:

I always assumed the "concert" videos (at least the ones that showed the audience) were shot at the concerts themselves, i didnt know they were done like mike described.

Maybe some of them are, but the Whitesnake video I mentioned was shot during the day. If memory serves correctly, a day or 2 before, the local radio station announced that anyone could come down and enter the arena and take part. I think my buddy that worked at Tower Records tipped us off too. We went just for the hell of it. Whitesnake probably played that night.

Same here, it was on the radio. We waited for about an hour to get in. Then they had us seated in the area farthest from the stage. They shot a little footage of us in the arena seats but I don't see them in the video. Then we went up to the stage as they played "air band" take after take. I think this is me because this is the area I was standing. It's a rough shot and quick and it really could be anyone but during this I am the only one not "rocking out" because I typically don't do that at shows, I just stand there looking at everything.



My brother at about 3:34 - 3:35 into the video.

That's cool man. I always wanted to be an extra in a music video. Preferably Dokken's "It's Not Love." As a kid I thought the whole gig on the flatbed was truly live and not overdubbed. I so wanted to be in the crowd shouting the chorus with my fist in the air.