Phil Anselmo Defends Pantera Shows, Says Vinnie and Dime “Would Want Us to Do This”

After months of live performances and reasonably positive reviews, Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo still feels like he needs to justify the existence of the reformed band — and he’s invoking the name of the late Abbott brothers to do so.

During his recent appearance on the official Metallica podcast, The Metallica Report, Anselmo made his first public comments on the Pantera reunion/tribute/whatever you want to call it.

“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.”

Now, if you’ve been following the drama surrounding this whole effort, you’d know that while the estates of both Vinnie Paul and “Dimebag” Darrell both gave their blessings for the shows to go on, there’s verifiable proof that at least one of the brothers would have hated what’s going on.

Following Dimebag’s murder, Vinnie Paul became an emphatic voice against ever seeing Pantera hit the stage in any form. In multiple interviews, he said a reunion would need all the original members to mean anything and unfortunately, one of the founding members had been killed on stage in Ohio. During a 2014 intervewi with EMP Rock Invasion, the late drummer said as much.

“People are selfish, man. They want what they want; they don’t care what you want. And it’s unfortunate that people go, ‘Oh, wow, man, they can get Zakk Wylde to jump up there on stage and it’s Pantera again.’ No, it’s not, you know. It’s not that simple. If Eddie Van Halen was to get shot in the head four times next week, would everybody be going, ‘Hey, man, Zakk, go play for Van Halen. Just call it Van Halen.’ You see what I’m saying? I mean, it’s really selfish for people to think that, and it’s stupid. It’s not right at all.

“They call it a reunion for a reason. It’s called bringing the original members back to what it was. So there’s a lot of these things that they call reunions that aren’t really reunions. They’ve got one dude from the band floating around in them, you know. That’s not a true reunion. With Pantera, it’ll never be possible.”

Now, a lot of that vitriol toward the idea stems from the fact that Vinnie Paul cut off all contact with Anselmo, who he blamed for Dimebag’s death until he himself passed in 2018.

Regardless of what was said in the past, Pantera’s still going to be playing shows well into the new year. They’re not only providing support at various Metallica shows, but they also have a new leg of their tour with Lamb of God set to kick off this February. You can check them out live at any of the dates below.

PANTERA w/ Special Guests Lamb Of God:

2/03/2024 Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
2/05/2024 Amalie Arena – Tampa, FL
2/07/2024 Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY
2/09/2024 Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
2/10/2024 FedExForum – Memphis, TN
2/13/2024 T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, MO
2/14/2024 Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, NE
2/16/2024 Canada Life Centre – Winnipeg, MB
2/18/2024 Resch Center – Green Bay, WI
2/20/2024 Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, MI
2/22/2024 Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
2/24/2024 CFG Bank Arena – Baltimore, MD
2/26/2024 Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
2/27/2024 Centre Vidéotron – Québec City, QC
End Tour

6/14-16/2024 Download Fest @ Donington Park – Derby, UK #
8/02/2024 Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA **
8/09/2024 Soldier Field – Chicago, IL **
8/16/2024 US Bank Stadium – Minneapolis, MN **
8/23/2024 Commonwealth Stadium – Edmonton, AB **
8/30/2024 Lumen Field – Seattle, WA **

# Festival date
** PANTERA supporting Metallica