Words and pix by Robert Forte
Pantera pulled up the tour bus to the Xfinity Centre in Mansfield, Massachusetts this past week to bring their New England area faithful a taste of what helped skyrocket the Arlington, Texas legends to global super stardom in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Whether anyone buys into the public relations tag line that the now reformed Pantera is promoting their current tour against, “For the Fans, For the Brothers and For Legacy,” is something that’ll be entirely up to the individual. The reality of the situation is that Pantera has continued to influence generations of aggressive music fans, regardless of who is or who isn’t in the band these days, as they continue to build an enduring legacy that will undoubtedly continue to stand the test of time.
Social media was bound to crap all over the news that Charlie Benante (Anthrax) and Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) would be joining original Pantera members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown for a world tour to celebrate the band’s music, history as well as the memories of both Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. The sole purpose of social media in terms of Pantera’s legacy seemed to be to divide the masses while ironically, the band themselves simply continued walking a path much more aligned with bringing people from all walks of life together versus tearing them apart.
To no surprise at all, that’s exactly what Pantera did in Mansfield at the Xfinity Centre, which is nestled away in the woods of southeastern Massachusetts, just a short drive south from the state’s capital of Boston. Pantera brought tens of thousands of friends, family members and fans, both old and new, together for what came off as an extremely loud, blistering, joyous love-in that was as chock-full of nostalgia as it was pugnacious, head-banging riffs all night long.
Coming off the band’s mourning of Zakk Wylde’s mentor and longtime musical collaborator, Ozzy Osbourne, an incident that saw Pantera both cancel as well as reschedule a few dates, it wouldn’t have been all too surprising had the band had delivered a somewhat sombre performance in Mansfield.
Instead, that couldn’t have been farther from how things actually played out as not only did Pantera deliver both a gripping and brilliantly fierce performance throughout their time on the Xfinity Centre’s stage, both tour openers, Swedish Viking metal heroes Amon Amarth and grindcore stalwarts King Parrot, hailing from Melbourne, Australia, answered the bell as well.
Beyond the music, there was also more than a few tear-jerking, heartfelt moments to be had in Mansfield this past weekend. There was, of course, the band’s moving tribute to Vinnie and Dime as images of both brothers were displayed several minutes prior to the band taking the stage. These nostalgic images and videos displayed all four original Pantera band members in their heyday, enjoying life both on and off the stage alongside fans as well as with one another.
Thousands in Massachusetts also came out to the Xfinity Centre to mourn the recent loss of Ozzy Osborne, a heavy metal legend who not only influenced millions globally, but was also both a long-time musical collaborator and personal friend of guitarist Zakk Wylde for decades. Seemingly out of respect for Ozzy countless individuals in Mansfield wore Black Sabbath or Ozzy Osbourne t-shirts while thousands throughout the performance would scream Osbourne’s name at the top of their lungs.
Anyone going into this show thinking that they were going to get a no-holds-barred, anything-can-happen-at-any-moment, two-and-a-half-hour-long musical ride from hell that was a Pantera live show in the late 90s, probably came away from their set in Mansfield a bit disappointed. That would be a damn shame because any fan that actually walked out of the Xfinity Centre not laughing, hugging and high-fiving their friends in a sheer state of euphoria clearly must have missed the whole damn point of Pantera getting back together in the first place. They didn’t agree to reform with the intent of attempting to recreate the band that Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul built from the ground up in Texas back in the 1980s.
Instead, this tour simply presents an opportunity for Anselmo and Brown to celebrate the legacy of Pantera as well as to have it serve as an honourable tribute to the band’s two fallen heroes, countless fans have had a lifelong, intimate, musical connection with. In that regard, Pantera knocked it out of the park, as the nearly 20,000 fans in attendance sure seemed as though they would have gladly remained inside the confines of the venue for as long as the band would have been willing to play. Sadly, if fans in North America missed the opportunity to see Pantera take to the live stage on this current run of dates, they may be running out of time.
The band’s Mansfield date was one of only a handful left on Pantera’s final leg of their current tour before they pack all the gear up in late September for some much-needed time off before hitting the road again in Europe supporting Metallica in the late Spring of 2026. Very few aggressive, heavy bands have had the impact Pantera has had on multiple generations worldwide. Although fans both old and new will never have the opportunity to see and experience them in their original form ever again, each and every last one of them should do themselves a favour and try to catch this iteration of the band while they still can, if they can.
If Dime and Vinnie’s tragedies taught the world of heavy music anything, you may never get the chance to get fucking hostile with Pantera ever again and that, my friends, would be an entirely different tragedy altogether.
