Pantera will get together for a tour in 2023 to celebrate their iconic music. The band's lineup is currently Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, as well as Black Label Society guitarist Zakk Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. In an interview with Danny Wimmer Presents, Wylde said the tour is explicitly a celebration of Pantera's music and the musicianship of the late and great Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell. Or as Wylde puts it, "you're celebrating all the mountains that Pantera conquered and crushed. I think it's a beautiful thing."
"When Vinnie was still alive, when the fellas were all talking about doing it, I just always told them 'guys, I would… of course I would if you asked me. Why would I not do it?' It's like, I'm gonna honor [Dimebag Darrell]. It'd be like Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell asking Eric Clapton if he would go out and honor Jimi [Hendrix], and Eric is playing Jimi's stuff and playing Jimi's songs, and they're going out as the Jimi Hendrix Celebration. And he's gonna honor his buddy and he's gonna play his songs.
"So I mean, I think it's a beautiful thing. When we do the Dimebashes… you know, Zakk Sabbath just played at the Dimebash, and it's a celebration of Dime's greatness. It's a Pantera celebration. I think that's what it is."
The inclusion of Wylde in the Pantera lineup is hardly shocking. Wylde said in a 2019 interview that he felt he wouldn't be replacing Dimebag if a reunion happened, but instead celebrating his music. "When Saint Vinnie [late Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, who died in June 2018] was still around, they were talking about it then. I mean, the way I always looked at it is it's a Pantera celebration and an honor. I mean, every night I'm playing with Ozz, we honor Saint Rhoads [late Ozzy guitarist Randy Rhoads]. I'm playing the Randy stuff every night, and I'm blessed and it's an honor to do it. Basically, we're paying tribute to Randy every night — keeping his music alive."
