I’m having a hard time guessing what effects we’ll see from the recent shooting of Dimebag Darrell. Coming on the heels of the NBA violence, it seems possible that — at least for a bit — security will tighten up at smaller venues. I truly hope it doesn’t. I love the intimacy of club shows: you can talk to the bands, walk right up to the stage, you don’t get frisked at the entrance…

It’s hard to imagine most of the little venues I go to actually being able to provide any increased security, but who knows? I also wonder if the fallout would be different if the victim had been a major star (or even Dimebag at Pantera’s peak).

In some ways, it would be easy to read this event as somehow fitting into our times (despite the obvious lunacy of the shooter), but I’ve never felt unsafe at a show beyond the casual dangers of drunken revelers, etc. Flaskaland has an interesting post up today with stories of club violence going back to ’60s.

Of course, I know there’s always been violence everywhere, and of course I know I’m getting a bit rambly, but I want the killing to have some sort of significance, I suppose, other than “here’s what happens when disgruntled fans lose it”. Is that really the only thing we can take away from this?