Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold + Sebastian Bach Offer Onstage Tributes to Vinnie Paul
While the written tributes flooded social media in the hours shortly after Vinnie Paul's death, a number of rockers have taken the next step in finding ways to honor the legendary Pantera and Hellyeah drummer while onstage as well. Both Megadeth and Avenged Sevenfold took the opportunity to pay musical tribute while appearing at France's Hellfest over the weekend, while Sebastian Bach, playing a show in Winnipeg, also offered his concert tribute as well.
"This next song we're gonna do for you, we played it last night for the first time in nearly 20 years," Megadeth's Dave Mustaine says in the video from Hellfest posted above. "We haven't played this song for a very long time and we dedicated it to a very old friend of mine, all of ours, who passed away. This song is dedicated to you Vinnie. This song is called 'My Last Words.'"
Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows also reflected upon learning the news of Paul's passing, before serving up their song "Hail to the King" as a tribute. "Most of our friends, we were all in Belgium last night. We got in very late, and I woke up to the worst text message I could get which was about Vinnie Paul passing away last night. There's not much we can do," stated Shadows. "We all understand that this life is brief, we all understand that our friends are gonna go at some point; All we can do is honor him the best way we can. Tonight we do that by playing 'Hail to the Fuckin' King' for Vinnie Paul." Prior to the band's performance, a number of Vinnie Paul images played across the Hellfest stage screens to cheers from the crowd. The performance of "Hail to the King" comes at around the 17:25 mark in the video below.
As for Bach, he dipped into the Pantera catalog for his tribute. He and his band took on "Cemetery Gates" while the words "Vinnie Paul" were taped on the drum kit. Watch fan-shot video of the performance from the Pyramid Cabaret in Winnipeg below.
Paul passed away Friday (June 22) in Las Vegas at the age of 54.
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