In a heartbreaking and awful weekend of gun violence in Orlando, the largest terror attack since 9/11 took place at Pulse, as a gunman killed 49 at Pulse, a gay club. However, the day before, 22 year-old The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie was executed at a meet and greet after she played by a man who then killed himself. For many in the metal community, it served as a sobering reminder of December 8th, 2004, when crazed gunman Nathan Gale killed Damageplan and Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others onstage during a Damageplan show. While Grimmie died after the show, her sad death brings up the issue of concert security, and yesterday, Pantera themselves weighed in on Grimmie’s shooting on Facebook:
In the immediate aftermath of Dime’s shooting, concert security seemed to increase, but given that a man was shot and killed at New York City’s Irving Plaza a few weeks ago, combined with Grimmie’s death, and of course the Bataclan shooting last year suggests that concert security needs to be increased somehow. The Pulse shooting is somewhat unrelated, as the club had security and he was killed by the gunman. We’ll have to see how things change in the wake of this past weekend.
