Pantera To Play Special Small Club Show In Minneapolis
Pantera will play a special club show tonight, 15 August, at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
First Avenue tweeted out news of the show, which will take place the night before the reformed band — consisting of classic-lineup members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),along with Zakk Wylde (guitar) and Charlie Benante (drums) — opens for Metallica at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
In a recent interview with Sweetwater, Brown spoke about the decision to tour with a reformed version of Pantera. The line-up has reportedly been given a green light by the estates of Pantera’s founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
Rex said: “The last show, man, I had a creepy, like a cold — something came by me. It felt like there was a cold feeling. And I’ve gotten this a couple of times before. When we were down recording with Charlie — me and Charlie just went down [in late 2022], put up eighty to a hundred hours of tape before Zakk [started rehearsing with us]. Zakk was still on the road.
“So we wanted to get the bass and the drum real tight, and we had this scratch guitar player. I felt that same chill. And, to me, they’re angels. And I think you know who they are. Those guys, I think they’re looking down, or they’re looking around us, with us, and I think they’re digging what they’re seeing, man. I really do. And that’s the only kind of way I can look at it, and get as close as we can with Charlie and Zakk. And God, it’s getting really, really good. And there’s so much more potential to get even tighter.”
Speaking about the opportunity to perform Pantera’s music to new generations of fans who never saw the band before, Rex said: “There’s a lot of memories in this band that are hard to put down. And losing the brothers, I just never in a million years thought that something like that would happen. Here we are 22 years later, and to see these new fans’ faces. You’ve got one kid sitting there, or man, woman or child crying, and you have this other guy just going, ‘You did it right.’ It’s just amazing.”