The Ohio venue where Dimebag Darrell was murdered has been demolished nearly 17 years to the day of the legendary Pantera guitarist’s death.
Alrosa Villa, located in Columbus, Ohio, was razed of yesterday (December 7th). Dimebag was tragically slain by a gunman while performing onstage with Damageplan on December 8th, 2004, with today marking the 17th anniversary.
As previously reported, the site will be the replaced by affordable housing. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the plot was put on the market in 2019 for $1.295 million, including the 10,000-square-foot music venue, two lots totaling 7.2 acres, a liquor license, and various equipment. The venue hosted shows for 45 years, and in its heyday, booked such acts as Pantera on the Cowboys from Hell tour, Ratt, Manowar, Static-X, and many more.
A June post on the Alrosa Villa Facebook page read: “We’ve seen stars born here, unfortunately we’ve had stars pass away here, but the one thing that can never be taken away from us is the amazing memories we’ve all created along the way with magical people inside of this magical place. I don’t personally like how the media always chose to portray the venue when talking about it because they always chose to drag it down with negativity because of the unfortunate passing of Dimebag Darrell… But that shouldn’t be what defines Alrosa as a music venue.”
The club’s memory was permanently scarred when Nathan Gale, an ex-Marine, stormed the stage and shot Dimebag and others as Damageplan played a show. Police officer and first responder James D. Niggemeyer arrived minutes into Gale’s rampage, fatally shooting the gunman. Though no motive was officially decided, it was determined Gale suffered from mental illness and potentially held a psychotic grudge against Darrell and his brother Vinnie Paul for the dissolution of Pantera.
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“It was a really hardcore, tragic event, and the guy [Nathan Gale] wanted to kill me, too,” said Dimebag’s brother, the late Vinnie Paul, in 2014. “And somehow or another, I was lucky enough to escape that, and I’m still here, and I will do everything and anything I can to carry on the legacy and the tradition that my brother always had.”
Today, the Pantera social media pages paid tribute to Dimebag, posting, “The world lost an amazing guitar player & all around awesome guy on this day 17 years ago. Thank you all for keeping his memory alive! RIP Jeffrey “Mayhem” Thompson, Erin Halk, Nathan Bray who also qave their lives to help save Dime.”
See the aftermath of the demolition of Alrosa Villa below, followed by the tribute on Pantera’s Twitter page.
The world lost an amazing guitar player & all around awesome guy on this day 17 years ago. Thank you all for keeping his memory alive! RIP Jeffrey "Mayhem" Thompson, Erin Halk, Nathan Bray who also qave their lives to help save Dime. pic.twitter.com/VOrz3acMyj
— Pantera (@Pantera) December 8, 2021
