Today has been a day of remembrance in the heavy metal community as we collectively mourned the loss of legendary Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott, who died 16 years ago on this day. Darrell was senselessly shot by a deranged fan while performing with his band Damageplan at Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.
Darrell is considered one of the greatest heavy metal guitarists of all time. Longtime Pantera videographer Daryl “Bobby Tongs” Arnberger said in a new interview with Landry.audio, that a month before Dimebag Darrell was tragically murdered, Dime told Daryl that Dime was going to do "whatever it takes" to reunite Pantera.
“The last time I saw [Dimebag] was in November of 2004… I went over to his house. I was just talking to him briefly about everything. He was, like, ‘We’re gonna go out and do this [Damageplan] tour through December, and I’ll see you for Christmas and everything. After that, we’re gonna have some new shit going on. And it’s not gonna be this. Whatever it takes, we’re gonna get these guys back together and do it right.’
“He was saying he was gonna do everything he could. He was pretty much done with what they [Damageplan] were doing at that point. He wanted to move on and go back to Pantera.”
Oh what could've been! Tributes have begun pouring in all day.
Dimebag's longtime girlfriend, Rita Haney, shared this memory a few days ago of what she considers their anniversary:
