In 2022, Pantera returned to the stage with a tribute reunion after 20 years since the band's inactivity ended. In a new interview, current members Rex Brown , Zakk Wylde , and Charlie Benante spoke about their experience at the first show of this lineup, which also features Phil Anselmo on vocals.
The first reunion show took place last December at the Hell & Heaven in Mexico. During a conversation with producer and YouTuber Rick Beato (via Blabbermouth ), the musicians talked about the feeling of going on stage.
Charlie Benante, who took over the position left by Vinnie Paul , didn't hide his nervousness. “Man, I was a bundle of nerves. It was freezing, and I remember taking two shots that night of Black Tooth [gin] just to calm myself down because I was so anxious. And we went on stage, the intro started, the first song started playing, and it was like, 'Wow, here it is,'” he recounted. “It was the first time people were seeing [the tribute reunion]. And then, it would be everywhere. So, if we didn't do well, it would be like, 'Oh, I saw it. It wasn't that good.' And like I said, I had a hundred things going through my head.”
And the task wasn't any easier for one of the remaining members of Pantera, as Rex Brown revealed in the interview. “That’s what I call a shot heard around the world, right there. That little moment in time, and I remember it because I felt immense relief at that moment. Because we had been in a hangar with these two guys for two weeks, working on this with the lights and the production of this thing for nine, ten hours a day playing the songs,” he recalled. “And it worked out, it all paid off. It was great.”
In the case of Zakk Wylde, who fills the spot left by his friend Dimebag Darrell , the experience of starting the tour in grand style was curious. “But I remember the funny thing, because there were no warm-up shows; we didn’t do any club shows. So, the first show was that one in front of forty thousand people, or however many there were… For me, I felt like there was… Like an adrenaline rush, kind of like my first show with Ozzy [Osbourne], which I did in an arena when I was about 20 years old. So, for me, I was just thinking, ‘Damn, this is pretty insane’,” he said.
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