Reunited Pantera playing Star Lake this summer
The reunion of the surviving members of heavy metal pioneers Pantera has spawned a headlining tour, including a stop near Pittsburgh.
Pantera will visit the Pavilion at Star Lake on July 28. They will be joined by opening act Lamb of God.
Singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown will be joined by Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) on guitar and Charlie Benante (Anthrax) on drums.
The band announced reunion plans last summer and played several South American dates in December. They will also open some shows for Metallica and appear at festivals in Japan, Europe and the United States this year.
Pantera, which formed in 1981, played its last official show on Aug. 26, 2001, and broke up in 2003. Guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was shot and killed Dec. 8, 2004, in Columbus, Ohio, while playing onstage with his new band, Damageplan. His brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, died in 2018 of natural causes.
Wylde, who has also recorded and tour extensively with Ozzy Osbourne, said that the tour was an opportunity to pay tribute to the band’s legacy.
“Obviously, it’s not Pantera,” he said. “Pantera is those four guys — it’s Phil, Rex, Dime and Vinnie. But it’s just like when (Led) Zeppelin went out with Jason Bonham (son of late Zeppelin drummer John Bonham) playing. It was phenomenal. It’s a great thing just to hear them play that music again.”
Benante echoed those sentiments in an interview with Eddie Trunk.
“Before ‘Planet Caravan’ starts, we have this video that runs with a little piece of the song ‘Cemetery Gates,’ and it’s basically a tribute to Dime and Vinnie,” Benante said. “I mean, Dime and Vinnie are all over the place. They are on my drum kit. Zakk has patches with them. But even in spirit, they’re there.”
Four of Pantera’s albums — “Cowboys From Hell,” “Vulgar Display of Power,” “Far Beyond Driven” and “The Great Southern Trendkill” — sold more than a million copies each.
Tickets for the Star Lake show go on sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 27 at livenation.com with a Citi card member presale opening at 10 a.m. Jan. 24.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.