“WE’RE UP THERE CELEBRATING DIME AND VINNIE. THAT’S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT, AND IT BRINGS JOY TO SO MANY PEOPLE”
ON DECEMBER 18, 2022, about two weeks after playing their first-ever show together since 2001, Pantera are getting ready to tear up the Knotfest Carnival stage at the Anhembi Sambadrome in São Paulo, Brazil. Minutes before showtime, the ravenous crowd cheers along to Jackass-style video snippets of Pantera smashing things, blowing up shit, playing practical jokes and performing mind-blowing shows in the Nineties. A projection of a silhouette of the late Dimebag Darrell — wearing a Dean guitar, fist raised in triumph — and his late brother Vinnie Paul — holding up a drumstick — fill the screens as the band takes the stage to the weird and ethereal Peter Ivers song “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” from David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The moment the nation has waited more than 27 years for has arrived.
“This is called ‘A New Level,’” shouts vocalist Phil Anselmo, and immediately Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde, Cattle Decapitation bassist Derek Engemann (who’s temporarily filling in for Covid-stricken Pantera co-founder Rex Brown) and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante blast into the chugging opening rhythm of the song as the crowd chants to the beat. Then, Wylde, armed with an orange-and-black bullseye-decorated Wylde Audio Warhammer, doubles the speed of the riff and sparks start to fly — literally and figuratively.
Turbulence and discord were obstacles for Pantera’s return to the stage long before Vinnie Paul died of a heart attack in 2018. Many fans and critics have insisted that booking a “Pantera” tour that doesn’t feature founding members Dimebag Darrell Abbott (who was killed onstage in 2004) and Vinnie Paul Abbott is offensive, even with the remaining Abbotts’ blessings. Others claim the real offense would be to bury the band’s explosive concerts along with the brothers, and that Wylde and Benante are the perfect fill-ins (not replacements) for Dime and Vinnie. Zakk and Dime were close friends and Benante was tight with Dime and Vinnie, who were big Anthrax fans and who toured together in 1998.
“To me, it’s just a beautiful thing,” Wylde says of the worldwide tour that includes U.S. dates opening for Metallica and headlining with Lamb of God, as well as numerous festival appearances. “Whenever we do the Experience Hendrix thing, we pay tribute to the amazing music and playing of Jirni Hendrix. And when I’m playing ‘Mr. Crowley’ or ‘Crazy Train’ with Ozzy [Osbourne], we’re celebrating the greatness of Randy [Rhoads]. It’s not controversial or tragic. It’s about this awesome thing Pantera created — and this community of people who still enjoy it.”
Seeing the revamped Pantera onstage in Sao Paulo (or anywhere else), it’s hard to dispute Wylde’s comments or talk smack about the band’s gangbuster performances. This is, indeed, a beautiful thing. Throughout the São Paulo show, Wylde plays most of the crunching rhythms in a partial crouch,
