The surviving members of Pantera are set to reunite in 2023 for their first tour in over 20 years.
Billboard reports that singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown have signed a deal with Artist Group International to book their upcoming North American dates. “We are thrilled to be working with such an iconic band and bringing their music back to the fans,” agent Peter Pappalardo said in a statement.
It’s unclear who will be joining Anselmo and Brown on the road for the tour. Guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell was murdered during a show in Ohio in 2004, while his brother Vinnie Paul died in 2018 from heart disease.
In an interview in 2019, Anselmo teased the possibility of a Pantera tribute tour with Brown and guitarist Zakk Wylde, a longtime friend of the band.
“Well, Zakk is a busy man … We spoke about it maybe one time,” Anselmo told Chile news outlet Humo Negro. “If everything was lined up, I would do it, sure. F**k yeah! Why not?”
“I’m open for anything. And Rex and I, we are in touch and we talk. We’re friends and everything’s cool,” Anselmo added. “So, I keep an open mind, I keep an open mind. We’ll see in the future.”
Rumors of Wylde participating in a Pantera reunion actually date back to 2014, when Anselmo joined Wylde onstage for a rendition of Pantera’s “I’m Broken” during Down’s tour with Black Label Society. Brown later joined the duo when the tour passed through Texas, further intensifying rumors.
However, the idea of Wylde stepping in for the late “Dimebag” Darrell was repeatedly dismissed by Vinnie Paul, who remained estranged from Anselmo until the drummer’s own death. Vinnie Paul harbored resentment toward Anselmo, who made inflammatory comments about Dimebag in a magazine interview shortly before the guitarist was slain onstage.
The reunion never came to fruition as Vinnie Paul and Anselmo remained on non-speaking terms while the drummer was alive. That said, it was Vinnie Paul’s passing that inspired Anselmo to revisit the Pantera material with his band the Illegals.
“The last thing on my mind, before all this happened, was really playing Pantera songs,” Anselmo told Humo Negro, “…and then Vince died. And then it was, like, ‘F**k, man.’ Things got important.”
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