Pantera Begin Teasing Their Return To Live Performance

Ahead of their show at Mexico City’s Heaven & Hell festival slated for Friday December 2nd, Pantera has finally started teasing their much anticipated return to the stage. Apart from a short promo video the band’s social media put out in August, confirming the rumor at the time that Pantera was ‘reuniting,’ the remaining original members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown have been relatively quiet ever since the reunion was announced. It’s all a bit strange considering guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante have been open and talkative about the reunion in recent interviews, but that could also be due to the fact that they have big shoes to fill with replacing brothers Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darell — the backbone of Pantera.

However, it appears this week things are starting to change as Pantera bassist Rex Brown has finally shed some light on the band’s upcoming shows. Brown took to Instagram to post a photo with himself with Wylde and Benante in what appears to be the band’s rehearsal space. The photo was captioned with the following statement:

“Get ready folks, this is gonna be one Hell of a Ride…And then some!! This was the start of the ZW sessions that grew into a Monster…5 days ‘til Mexico City!! Bolt in…..”

Soon after Brown’s post, the band’s official social media pages followed suit with another short teaser video which briefly showcases the four members gearing up in what might be the same rehearsal space.

While the video doesn’t offer much as far as what the band’s stage production will look like for these shows, it did show Zakk Wylde wielding one of his own signature guitars rather then one of Dime’s personal Washburn or Dean axes. Initially it was rumored by Dimebag’s former guitar Tech (who’s returning as Zakk Wylde’s tech) that Wylde would be using some of Dime’s signature gear for the Pantera reunion shows. Of course the band’s rehearsal gear could be different from the gear they use when they finally hit the stage, but neither the promo video or Brown’s instagram post show Wylde using Dime’s gear.

Despite seeming like a rather small nuance, fans seemed to notice and expressed in the comments their hopes of seeing Dimes’ gear make a return. Considering the reunion lineup has made it clear of there intentions to honor the Abbott brothers at these shows, hopefully that means getting to as close to the actual sound and aesthetic that both Dime and Vinnie brought to Pantera.