Editor’s Note: All photos by Jason Greenough for Vanyaland.
Before a note from third-billed King Parrot even rang out this past Saturday (August 2), a man in the Xfinity Center parking lot was stretchered away by Mansfield’s emergency services after taking a couple of hits on a joint that probably wasn’t bought at a business searchable on Weedmaps. It was an early indication, in case there was any doubt, that a Pantera show was about to go down.
The Texas groove metal outfit was making their first headlining appearance in the Boston metropolitan area since reconvening in 2022. Only half of the classic lineup, bassist Rex Brown and frontman Phil Anselmo, are alive today, with late founding siblings “Dimebag” Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott supplanted by longtime Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, respectively.
Despite all parties involved insisting it’s not a reunion, but rather a “celebration” of the band’s legacy, performing as Pantera remains a sore subject for many, as Vinnie Paul was vehemently opposed to any talk of playing again under the banner following the onstage murder of his sibling in 2004 by a crazed gunman. He also carried deep-rooted anger towards Anselmo, whom he blamed in part for the tragedy. But when the drummer passed away in 2018 from heart disease, it didn’t take long for the corresponding Abbott estates to move forward with restarting the lucrative Pantera machine.
Few of those making up the full house in Mansfield seemed to care about the messy history and politics involved, bottlenecking at the merch stands to purchase shirts emblazoned with the brothers’ images. That’s not surprising given Pantera’s hardcore audience was made up principally by fans who rejected the softer musical direction Metallica took in the mid-’90s and were starved for something that went full bore into a more extreme end of the metal pool.
Pantera delivered in spades, with the 1992 masterpiece Vulgar Display of Power bookended by a decidedly Judas Priest-influenced Cowboys from Hell in 1990 and 1994’s abrasive Far Beyond Driven. Saturday night saw the focal point on the Vulgar and Driven eras, with forays into the latter, fractured days of the group garnering a mixed reception.
Opening with “Hellbound” from the last proper Pantera studio album, 2000’s Reinventing the Steel, was a bold choice. Yet given the release of the pent-up excitement when the curtain emblazoned with the band’s name drops from the rafters to the floor, along with the brevity of the track, it wasn’t too much of a risk. And longtime fans will recall that “Hellbound” was the opener for the final Pantera tour in 2001, making it a sly nod to the past and present. The common show starter “A New Level” was held back to kick off the first of two encores.
The bulk of the set was fan service. “Mouth for War,” “Strength Beyond Strength,” “Five Minutes Alone,” and “Walk” pressed all the right buttons. Each song had a wealth of moments to pump fists or sing along to. When the lights came up and the audience did its part for the chorus of “This Love,” it might as well have been 1992 all over again.
Delving deeper into the catalog, “10’s” and “I’ll Cast a Shadow” were half-jokingly referred to as “deep cuts” by Anselmo. While there is a novelty in the former never being played by Pantera in their prime, one gets the sense the singer is making up for a period when he wasn’t at his best at the tail end of the band’s run, disappointing fans and bandmates with his heroin addiction and self-imposed isolation.
These days, the 57-year-old Anselmo is healthy, happy, and beyond appreciative that people are still interested in hearing the music of Pantera in a live setting. Multiple back and knee surgeries have left him more stationary than the careening cannonball of a frontman in the early ’90s, but he remains an imposing figure. Now, Anselmo carries himself if not quite yet an elder statesman of metal, then at least the cool uncle who will share a joke, a knowing wink, and always mean what he says.
“These songs we’re playing, man, they’re fucking yours,” he said earnestly to lead into “Becoming.” “In all honesty – you’re the ones that liked ‘em!”
During “Goddamn Electric,” Anselmo gleefully played the outro solo on guitar, likely still buzzing from a few gigs earlier when he got to play Dimebag’s original “Dean from Hell” for the task, as the iconic instrument was brought out for a one-night-only appearance.
But all the heavy six-string lifting was done by Wylde, who has improved by leaps and bounds since the celebration kicked off almost three years ago. He and Benante – who simply nails Vinnie Paul’s style on kit – stay in the background for the most part, adhering to their support roles, which have allowed Brown and Anselmo to fully embrace their past.
Better players could’ve been brought in, but none of them would have the cachet Wylde and Benante do, as members of the extended Pantera family who do a more than serviceable job on the material. Maybe it’s a credit to the existing music, but it hasn’t dulled a bit, and damned if it still doesn’t make you want to run headfirst into a wall.
Direct support came from Sweden’s Amon Amarth, who were at the ready with all the bells and whistles and a stage set more impressive than Pantera. Their brand of melodic death metal might not be new, but the fresh spin comes from it being tied to Norse mythology. Singer Johan Hegg looks like and sings about Vikings, encouraging the audience to forgo moshing and raising the horns in favor of sitting down and “rowing.” It’s a whole thing; they even have an anthem for it called “Put Your Back into the Oar.”
Australian grindcore unit King Parrot, one of the acts on Anselmo’s Housecore Records label, opened the show — for those in the crowd who managed to make it past the parking lot.