Last night, on Saturday, February 3, PANTERA kicked off the 2024 tour with a performance at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. The band, starting their February North American tour with LAMB OF GOD, treated the audience to a 14-song set, featuring the first live performance of “Floods” since May 2001. The track “Floods” was initially released on PANTERA‘s 1996 album, The Great Southern Trendkill.
Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.
Setlist was as follows:
01. A New Level
02. Mouth For War
03. Strength Beyond Strength
04. Becoming
05. I’m Broken
06. Suicide Note Pt. II
07. 5 Minutes Alone
08. This Love
09. Floods
10. Walk
11. Domination
12. Hollow
13. Cowboys From Hell
Encore
14. F**king Hostile
PANTERA, consisting of Phil Anselmo on vocals, Rex Brown on bass, Wylde on guitar, and Charlie Benante on drums, is set to headline major festivals in North America, South America, and Europe. Additionally, they will be performing their own headline concerts and supporting METALLICA on a massive stadium tour in 2024. This marks a significant moment for PANTERA fans, as it is the first time the band’s surviving members have come together for live performances in over two decades.
During their appearance on the seventeenth episode of “The Metallica Report”, Anselmo and Brown discussed PANTERA‘s return to the live stage. This podcast, which provides weekly insider updates on all things METALLICA, was recently launched and is recorded at the band’s headquarters in Northern California.
Anselmo said: “It’s empowering. It is incredibly beautiful, and you feel so much love when you’re up there. And if you take it in, it’s a great feeling, man. These days, man, that’s where me and Rex, you know, we get to dig the shows more.”
“When we were younger, we were at war and when we were on stage; we were just angry and at war, man. Now it’s — the songs are there. I can concentrate on singing the fricking songs, number one. Geez, that’s a relief for me, man. I don’t have to break my fricking body in part anymore.”
Anselmo and Brown also addressed the addition of Charlie and Zakk as members of the PANTERA team.
Anselmo noted: “Them two dudes, so enthusiastic. And they got their damn thing and they got their own damn legacy, both of them, without us. It’s an honor to play with them. They’re the nicest frickin guys in the world, man. I’m just so… [Laughs] Zakk, he’s a crack-up, man. He’s a sweetheart. And fricking Charlie, we’ve known Charlie since ’87, man. It’s a long time.”
Rex added: “The way [Charlie] plays Vinnie‘s parts is uncanny. I don’t think there’s any drummer out there that could play the way that Vinnie did. I would close my eyes, because I was trying to get tight, and sometimes if I close my eyes, I can hear a little better; I think I can. And there’d be a tear of joy just coming down, because that was so close to what Vinnie and I used to play. So you have the foundation.”
When the interviewer mentioned that the 2023 PANTERA lineup has the spirit of Vinnie Paul and Dimebag inside it, Philip responded: “Only thing I can say is, man, I know for a damn fact Vince and Dime would want us to do this, hands down. They would want the PANTERA brand or the legacy to go on. And I don’t know what you believe in, but sometimes, you know, you would like to think that them old fellas are looking down on us, giving us the thumbs-up.”
According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band’s founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn’t tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It’s unclear what changed his mind.
