It's really happening. Pantera's surviving members, vocalist Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, have announced their first ever shows in over 20 years. Later this December, the band will be co-headlining Mexico's Hell & Heaven Fest and then shooting down to South America to play at Knotfest Colombia, Knotfest Chile and Knotfest Brazil. As previously revealed earlier this summer, Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante will be filling in for the late Abbott brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.
This is the first set of dates that Pantera have lined up in over 20 years, with the last set of Pantera concert shows taking place in 2001 in support of 2000's Reinventing the Steel. The group officially disbanded in 2003, only months before guitarist Dimebag Darrell was fatally shot in a nightclub while performing with his post-Pantera group, Damageplan. Founding drummer Vinnie Paul passed away in 2018.
"It's a Pantera celebration — that's what it is," Wylde said back in July during an interview with Matt Pinfield and Jose Mangin of Danny Wimmer Presents. "You're celebrating Vinnie and Dime's greatness and you're celebrating all the mountains that Pantera conquered and crushed."
Hell & Heaven fest is taking place on December 2nd, while the the Colombia show goes down December 9th, with Chile following on December 11th and the Brazil incarnation happening on December 18th. See the official announcements below.
