ROCKET REVIEW: New Year’s Eve Bash At VINNIE PAUL’s Playhouse

This review originally posted on January 13, 2009

‘Today would have been late great PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN/GASOLINE/HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul’s 59th birthday. TMD pays tribute to the legendary drummer with Rocket’s past review of this VP online event.’

We also pay honor to late GASOLINE singer Brannon Barrett who tragically passed away last year.

It was a rockin’ New Year’s Eve party for the heavy metal record books at VINNIE PAUL’s playhouse (the rockers actual home) in Arlington, Texas, thanks mainly in part to Video Bob for shooting with four separate web cameras throughout the near two hour event so that the online Big Vin lovers who couldn’t see the show in person could still fully share in the killer music and great Holiday vibes from the legendary drummer.

The over six hundred viewers of Video Bob’s webcast production, like myself, were treated with some hilarious banter on the site’s message board while you watched him try and figure out the whole camera set-up process and even at times actually telling you what he was working on, though for most of the time before the actual show started you were looking at a wall and an empty chair… for well over an hour. My suggestion to he and Big Vin is to maybe next time around somehow offset this ‘dead time’ with ‘video segments’ that maybe feature old Pantera performances or interviews with Vin and Dime from the glory days, or even a commerical for the Dimebag picture book, anything along those lines… I think you know where I am going with this.

Let it be known, however, that once Video Bob finally got all the kinks worked out, you could actually then see the ongoing New Year’s party from multiple well-placed angles, capturing all of Vinnie’s closest friends, including John “Kat” Brooks, Black Danzig, Krusher, Thrashin Alan and so many more just chilling and hanging with drinks in hand, enjoying the festivities. But it wasn’t until Vinnie’s absolutely rocking cover band GASOLINE finally hit the stage at 11:30 PM that the event really did start to actually go to a New Level.

Vocalist Brannon Barrett (Ex-HOLLOW/GASOLINE), along with Ex-SILENT CIVILIAN guitarist Marcus Rafferty (who sported a blue do-rag) and DAMAGEPLAN/HELLYEAH bassist Bobzilla, hit the stage as Vinnie Paul found his spot behind the drums. The group launched into an all-around impressive performance of completely random cover songs, such as Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead Or Alive” and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. But the high note came when GASOLINE next played an awesome tribute to Dimebag Darrell with Filter’s “Take A Picture” and Skid Row’s “I’ll Remember You”. Barrett displayed an uncanny vocal range that never once fell flat or went out of pitch, and most of the set was rocked out acoustic, so that tells you how good of a singer he is flatout. At times, you could even close your eyes and think you were literally hearing the original recording sung by Sebastian Bach himself. I shit you not, that’s how good they all were together and it showed on Vinnie Paul’s face even, who looked to be the happiest he has been in a very long time. “Not bad for only two practices”, Vinnie said into the microphone at one point, and he couldn’t have been more right. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This Brannon Barrett guy just might be the perfect choice to sing on the next Damageplan album”, replacing the ousted Pat Lachman. The final Damageplan record has been widely reported to already be in preparation for a future release and the album is to feature Dimebag’s guitar parts that he already recorded before his tragic on-stage murder in December of 2004.

I salute Vinnie Paul for being a true fighter and not letting the loss of his brother steal his joy in life and for allowing his fans to share in the pure fun he was having jamming it up with the new version of GASOLINE. What a great way to bring in 2009!

https://www.vinniepaulshop.com/

Pantera – Cowboys From Hell

RIP, Brannon Barrett

Happy birthday and Getcha Pull, Vinnie Paul. You are never forgotten!

Report: DIMEBAG, The Witches Sabbath & MK Ultra Killing Machines https://t.co/J376IuAGCZ @TheMetalDen @dimebagdarrell @Pantera @ZakkWyldeBLS @ThisDayInMETAL @MetalNation247 @CFHPTX @UrMidnight @cfhnyy @EndOfCentury @tessquiroga #TruthForDimebag #RIP #FortWorth #Texas #CFH pic.twitter.com/Qb3snSwyS6

— Randy Rocket Cody (@rocketmetalden) December 9, 2017

Randy “Rocket” Cody – Are you ready to take a deep dive? (randyrocketcody.com)

It took over a decade of asking for PANTERA to do a tribute concert and I got what I wanted, and I also asked for the final PANTERA studio album to be released. Do you believe in miracles?

Make Dimebag Darrell’s Last Studio Tracks The Final PANTERA Albumhttps://t.co/patempzBdi pic.twitter.com/EpmFIUuqQw

— Randy Rocket Cody (@rocketmetalden) February 2, 2023