According to Billboard, the surviving members of PANTERA will embark on a reunion tour in 2023. Both singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown have apparently signed with Artist Group International to book their North American dates.
“We are thrilled to be working with such an iconic band and bringing their music back to the fans,” says AGI.
PANTERA is managed by Scott McGhee of 1 Degree Music Entertainment. The band’s legal representative is Nick Ferrara And Associates. PANTERA is booked internationally by Rod MacSween at ITB.
The rumor as to who will fill in for the guitar and drummer roles on the tour, previously held by the late “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and his brother Vinnie Paul respectively, is that ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante and OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Zakk Wylde will be stepping into those roles.
Bothe Benante and Wylde have voiced their love and appreciation for PANTERA numerous times in the past, with Benante telling SiriusXM back in June of 2018 about the first time he met PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott: “The very first time, it was the first time we ever were in Texas. And those guys [PANTERA] were there. We played at this club, and I believe PANTERA were the opening band. A mutual friend of ours, who everybody knows now — Rita [Haney, longtime girlfriend of PANTERA guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott] — she kind of was the conduit to grouping us together to become friendly. We’ve known those guys since 1985, and just the two of them, Darrell and Vinnie, after you met those two, it was like you had a friend in Texas, both of them, and they just made the experience so much better, and you immediately bonded. So throughout the years, we just remained friends.”
Rumors of a PANTERA “reunion” really began to gain traction when Anselmo regularly joined Zakk Wylde with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to perform PANTERA‘s song “I’m Broken” during DOWN‘s 2014 run on the “Revolver Golden Gods Tour”. The rumors only grew after Brown joined them onstage on May 23, 2014. You can check out that footage below.