It’s Official: PANTERA’s Surviving Members To Embark On Reunion Tour In 2023

According to Billboard, PANTERA‘s surviving members will embark on a reunion tour in 2023. Singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown have signed with Artist Group International to book their North American dates. Dennis Arfa and Peter Pappalardo will be the responsible agents.

“We are thrilled to be working with such an iconic band and bringing their music back to the fans,” said Pappalardo.

A year ago, Anselmo said that he was up for reuniting with Brown for a special tour celebrating the music of PANTERA.

“I think Rex is very happy doing his solo records and stuff, and I think he’s been in the studio; he’s got his own thing going on,” he continued. “And I think right now in life, we are content to do things this way.

“If Rex and I had a show to play, or we were ever gonna be on stage again together, I would welcome it with open arms. I love Rex. And he’d be the same way. We’re brothers forever. So playing on stage together, or doing some shows together, is not out of the question. It could happen.”

When Eonmusic interviewer Eamon O’Neill added that he wasn’t about to ask the usual question about a reunion with Zakk Wylde taking the place of late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, Rex offered: “It’s going to come up, and it wouldn’t be Zakk Wylde, I guarantee you that. I’ve just put it out there so we can get on past it.”

In February 2020, Dimebag‘s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney said she would “definitely” be in favor of Anselmo, Brown and Wylde teaming up for a PANTERA tribute tour. A few days later, Brown weighed in on her comments, writing on Twitter: “I wanna make sure that ppl understand what I’m about to tweet.. It’s not up to Rita to say what will happen, only what Philip & I say…I’m in!! Dig?!?!?”

When asked to clarify if she would “be okay with a tour,” she responded: “I definitely would. I’d wanna be at every show. [Laughs]”

In 2019, Anselmo told Chile’s Humo Negro that he would consider getting together with Wylde and Brown and performing PANTERA‘s classic songs in concert. “Well, Zakk is a busy man,” he said. “He does his own band, he does stuff with Ozzy and all that stuff. We spoke about it maybe one time. And I think everybody — everybody — is… I guess they’re like me. Keep an open mind about it. We’ll see. But I know from all the hard work with [Anselmo‘s] THE ILLEGALS [project] here to make those songs right, all of us, we would have to take time off and really practice together and get everything perfect. So it’s a lot of work. And I’m doing a lot of bands, man, right now. [But] if everything was lined up, I would do it — sure. Fuck yeah! Why not?”

“If we got together and we ended up doing it, it would be like… I just look at it like if Eric Clapton went out and was with Mitch [Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix‘s drummer] and Noel [Redding, Hendrix‘s bass player] and singing and playing Jimi‘s songs, and he’s honoring Jimi, ’cause that was his buddy.

“No one’s replacing anybody. No one’s replacing Randy Rhoads — he was a one-off. Just like no one’s replacing Jimi Hendrix and no one’s replacing Dime [late PANTERA guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott] — or Vinnie.

Talk about a possible PANTERA “reunion” intensified when Anselmo regularly joined Wylde‘s BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to perform PANTERA‘s song “I’m Broken” during DOWN‘s 2014 stint on the “Revolver Golden Gods Tour”. That buzz only got stronger after Brown joined the jam on May 23, 2014 when the tour swung through Texas.

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag‘s death.

Source:  www.blabbermouth.net