Hellyeah Says Hell No to Columbus

Rockstar Energy Drink's Uproar Festival will be coming to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, August 24th, but one band will not be there: Hellyeah.

When I heard the lineup a couple of months ago, I was surprised and stoked to hear that Hellyeah would be playing in Columbus. As all of you know, Vinnie's brother, Dimebag Darrell, was shot and killed at a local club here in December of 2004; I never thought that Vinnie would ever set foot in this city again.

I was right.

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that Hellyeah would not be appearing at the Columbus date of the Uproar Festival. After checking their website, it was confirmed on their tour page: Hellyeah will be playing a club in Canada on August 24th. Although I don't know the actual reason they backed out of this date, my deductive reasoning leads me to believe that the Dimebag tragedy had a lot, if not everything, to do with it.

Do I blame Vinnie Paul for avoiding this place like the plague? Nope. What happened to Dimebag was a tragedy. We were all affected by it in some way. I can only imagine how difficult it would be for him to return to the place where he lost his brother. Coming back to Columbus would probably almost be like reliving it all over again.

I understand why he won't play in my town; however, I wish he would. It just sucks that because of the actions of some asshole, the rest of us here in Columbus don't get the priviledge of ever seeing any band live that Vinnie Paul will ever be in. I hate it that in a sense, the music has stopped. Sure, I can travel a few hours to see Hellyeah in some other city, but what's better than seeing a band at your favorite local venue?

Hellyeah's decision to skip the Columbus date is a respectable one. No one can be upset over it (and if they do get upset, then they're idiots). There's no doubt Hellyeah fans attending Tuesday's Uproar Fest will be disappointed, but I think everyone understands.

Photo: www.rockstaruproar.com