Today marks the 17th anniversary of metal’s greatest tragedy, the murder of Pantera and Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbot. On December 8th, 2004, a mentally ill fan named Nathan Gale attacked Damageplan mid-set during their show at Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, shooting and killing Dime as well as Damageplan’s head of security Jeffrey “Mayhem” Thompson, Alrosa Villa employee Erin Halk, and concertgoer Nathan Bray. Back in June, it was reported that Alrosa Villa would be demolished, and now, 17 years to the day after Dimebag’s death, footage of the club being torn down has surfaced.
As you can see in the video below, Alrosa Villa is pretty much rubble by the time this was shot, with a lone excavator scooping up the wreckage. The YouTube has included a picture of a large rock painted in Dimebag’s honor, which appears in the footage albeit from the back. Though it’s pretty simple stuff, there’s a solemnity to this video, a sense that we’re seeing another part of metal history come to a close.
Check out the footage below:
Everyone at The Pit sends their heart out to all of Dime’s friends, family, fans and collaborators.
The Pit staff aren’t the only metalheads who are still reeling from Dimebag’s murder. Slipknot guitarist Jim Root still owns a wah pedal that Abbott gifted him which he can’t bring himself to open.
“We were on tour and played Dallas,” wrote about the pedal on his Instagram. “Dime and Vinnie were there. The whole crew… and they had a crew. Tight bunch of dudes. Dime gave me this @jimdunlopusa cry baby from hell and he had written a note to me on it. To ME? From one of if not the most influential guitarists of all time. His flow and style were and are undeniable. One of those dudes that inspired you to be better. Not just at guitar playing. But being cool… being happy… being present. I was and still am blown away by it. (And [Daryl “Bobby Tongs” Arnberger, longtime videographer for both Pantera and Damageplan] chimed in on the note as well!)
“I didn’t know Dime well. I’d only met him a handful of times. But that he would think to gift me something like this… The note more so than the wah. I mean what can I say. A rare and missed human. He’d probably want me to bust that thing out and beat the shit out of it. I can’t bring myself to.”
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Words by Chris Krovatin
