Sterling Winfield, longtime Pantera producer and one of the people look in control of drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott's estate, recently guested on KNON FM 89.3 Reckless Rock Radio. He discussed Pantera's reformation, which features vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, along with Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne) on guitar, and Charlie Benante (Anthrax) on drums.
Winfield: "There was no doubt in my mind that he (Charlie Benante) would be the one to take over for Vinnie. Absolute no-brainer. Now, there were some other guitar folks that were brought up. I'll just say this: that it would not have been a good fit, and quite honestly, they would not have been able to pull it off. But it always kept circling back around to Zakk, and after a couple of times, it was, like, again another no-brainer because he knew Dime better than most any other guitar player on the planet knew him. Is it gonna be Dimebag Darrell's exact notes and riffs and everything? No. It's Zakk Wylde, you idiots. It's Zakk."
Pantera, who's new lineup includes vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, along with Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne) on guitar, and Charlie Benante (Anthrax) on drums - replacing the late, great Abbott brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul - have the following tour dates lined up for 2023:
May
20 - Daytona Beach, FL - Welcome To Rockville
26 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Armeets Arena
27 - Bucharest, Romania - Metalhead Meeting Open Air Festival
30 - Budapest, Hungary - Barba Negra
31 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
June
2-4 - Nürburgring, Germany - Rock Am Ring
2-4 - Nürnberg, Germany - Rock Im Park
5 - Lodz, Poland - Atlas Arena
10 - Sölvesborg, Sweden - Sweden Rock Festival
12 - Prague, Czech Republic - O2 Arena
13 - Berlin, Germany - Verti Music Hall
15 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhell
15 - 18 - Clisson, France - Hellfest
20 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - AFAS Live
21 - Hamburg, Germany - Edel Optics
22-24 - Oslo, Norway - Tons Of Rock
28-29 - Lisboa, Portugal - Altice Arena
29 - Viveiro, Spain - Resurrection Festival
July
2 - Bologna, Italy - Return Of The Gods Festival
14-16 - Mansfield, OH - Inkarceration Music & Tattoo Festival
August
4 - East Rutherford, NJ - MetLife Stadium (with Metallica)
11 - Montreal, QC - Stade Olympique (with Metallica)
18 - Arlington, TX - AT&T Stadium (with Metallica)
25 - Inglewood, CA - SoFi Stadium (with Metallica)
September
1 - Glendale, AZ - State Farm Stadium (with Metallica)
7-10 - Alton, VA - Blue Ridge Rock Festival
November
3 - St. Louis, MO - The Dome at America’s Center (with Metallica)
10 - Detroit, MI - Ford Field (with Metallica)
