On Saturday (June 23), the rock world mourned the death of Vinnie Paul Abbott. The Pantera drummer was just 54 years old when he passed away, but he left a legacy behind. 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.
Megadeth dedicated ‘My Last Words’ to the drummer, during their set at France’s Hellfest over the weekend.
“This next song we’re gonna do for you, we played it last night for the first time in nearly 20 years,” Dave Mustaine said, introducing the song.
“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 commemorated the drummer at the same festival by walking out to to a montage of photos of Paul soundtracked to Pantera’s song “Walk.” His 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.”
> Shiuly Rina
Megadeth and Avenged Sevenfold Pay Live Tributes to Vinnie Paul
