Hellyeah: Celebrate The Life of Vinnie Paul

Hellyeah were at 20 Monroe Live Sunday night for a concert to celebrate the life of their late drummer Vinnie Paul.

I have been a long time fan of Hellyeah as well as all of the Vinnie Paul's bands that also include Pantera and Damage Plan.

As I was walking over to the show, it just seemed odd knowing that Vinnie Paul would not be behind the drum kit. Hellyeah enlisted Stone Sour drummer, Roy Mayorga, who was also a friend of Vinnie's. Mayorga is an absolute incredible drummer who did a fantastic job playing every song in the set exactly as Paul would have done himself.

Hellyeah kicked of their set with X from their Undeniable album and immediately lit the 20 Monroe on fire. They followed up the track with a new one from their forth coming album, Welcome Home, called Oh My God which I was very excited to see them perform.

The rest of the list contained Sangre Por Sangre (Blood for Blood), Moth, 333, Cross to Bier (Cradle of Bones), Say When, Love Falls, Startariot and the title track to their album due in stores September 27th, Welcome Home.

Hellyeah frontman Chad Gray took a few times to address the crowd throughout the performance. He paid tribute to Vinnie Paul and Pantera and well as Vinnie's brother Dimebag Darrell who was shot and killed on stage while performing with Damage Plan. Chad also addressed the metal community a couple different times and one of my favorite things Chad had the audience do was have everyone turn around and high five a stranger which really lightened up the mood for everyone in attendance.

Gray talked about a song they guys wrote to pay tribute to Paul called Sky and Water. The song was pre-recorded and synced to video as the audience and band watched on the video screen.

Then the biggest surprise of the night, right after the tribute video and song, Hellyeah kicked into I'm Broken and then Walk from Pantera and I don't think anyone saw that coming. Since Hellyeah's Vinnie Paull came from Pantera and Chad and original guitarist Greg Tribett came from Mudvayne, the band never covered any of their previous bands material. I thought it was a nice tribute last night and the fans really enjoyed. It sure made my night.

They closed the night off with the first song from their first album, Hellyeah and put a perfect exclamation point on a great evening of music while celebrating the life of one of metal's most influential drummers...Vinnie Paul Abbott.