Taking it to a New Level with Pantera and Lamb of God in Tampa

All Photos by Travis Failey

After a phenomenal run of headlining the festival circuit in 2023, a reformed Pantera put together a heavy hitting lineup pairing themselves with Lamb of God to tour the planet.

One of the stops on their second run of shows was in Tampa on Monday night at Amalie Arena affectionately known as the Oil Can.

When this tour was announced, I was intrigued by what the attendance numbers would be like and seeing this show was on a Monday night, I thought that might have a bit of an effect on ticket sales and butts in the seats.

But boy was I wrong. Even though the third level was roped off, the floor was packed along with the first and club levels. It was packed and it was great see that the metal community came out in droves in support of the reformed Pantera.

I believe many in the audience thought that it was just two bands playing but opening the show was the band Nest from St. Louis and they had to be stoked to be playing to the early crowd.

Nest consists of Jarvis on vocals and guitars, bassist Tim Haar, and drummer Derek Bonn. Their sound is a combination of metal that is aggressive, raw and a bit noisy with sludge added in with odd timing structures.

Jarvis describes the band as, “a little bit of everything for everyone and Phil Anselmo said “Out of all of the bands I’ve been hearing lately, I think y’all are the most interesting,”“it’s dire and ugly garage punk that is a breath of fresh air in any music climate.”  He liked them so much that Phil; decided to sign them to his label Housecore records and bring them on their biggest tour of their lives.

Surprisingly Nest played a ten song set and got a huge pop from the crowd when they played “Cheap Sunglasses” by ZZ Top. Nest is a band that you either like them or don’t but I know for a fact that they made new fans on Monday night and that’s what you want to do as up and coming band.  This tour will be introducing other bands like Child Bite and Snafu later in the year so check Pantera’s website to see who will be in support.  

The metal community loves Lamb of God. This isn’t a new observation by me or anyone else but it was confirmed once again after witnessing them live for the fifth time.

In the past it was usually a shorter set for me due to it being on the festival circuit but Monday night was a full onslaught of brutal virtuosity.  The video screens and drop curtain read Lamb of God, and Randy Blythe screamed as the curtain dropped and mayhem began.

Blue and white strobes pulsated with the yellow logo on the backdrop as the band opened with “Memento Mori.” After Blythe splashed his head and others with water, the opening riffs of the fan favorite “Walk With Me In Hell” commenced. The first major mosh pits opened up and were consistent throughout the night but that sort of goes without saying. There was no slowing down.

Lamb of God continued with “Hourglass” with all the members of the band moving non-stop across the stage. Blythe mentioned how good it was to see everyone in the seats on a Monday night in Tampa at the home of Death Metal.  

He dedicated  the song “Ruin” to bands like Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Deicide and others. He also had the crowd belt out an old school Ric Flair “Wooh” which of course they did.

Even though this was only the second show of this tour run with Pantera, Blythe sounded great after a few month show hiatus as did guitarists Willie Adler and Mark Morton with just a booming backline of bassist John Campbell and monster percussionist Art Cruz.

He asked the crowd if they were ready to hear some mother fucking Pantera songs and the crowd roared in response. He said that it was an honor to be on tour with them and dedicated the set finale “Redneck” to Pantera and also Vinnie and Dime.

Blythe told the crowd to get a huge circle pit going and if you think you are too old, you need to come out of mosh pit retirement and get in there. The security guys had their hands full but thankfully I didn’t see any need for the EMTs.

After about a 30 minute break a black curtain with “Pantera” in red with floating pink marijuana leaves donned the stage as home videos of Dimebag and Vinnie with the rest of Pantera played on the stages side screens. “Regular People” blasted through the house speakers getting the fans primed for what was ahead.

  As the screens went black and two white silhouettes of Dime and Vinnie were shown, the  curtain dropped and Phil Anselmo raised his arms to the crowd as huge smoke plumes encompassed the stage as “A New Level” opened the 13 song set.

Anselmo spoke to the crow and said “every fucking note we hit is for Dimebag and Vin” as “Mouth of War began.

After a brutally heavy rendition of “Strength Beyond Strength” Anselmo stated “Got everyone’s ass out of the house on a Monday night. “It’s just insane man…Looking out and seeing all the generations of Pantera fans” and asked if anyone saw them in the 90’s. He also said that if the youngsters need to know the lyrics then ask one of the old people in the crowd.”

 He then intro’d “Becoming” with Zakk Wylde screaming the opening riffs with his Warhammer guitar. Zakk was great and moved around much more than at the Rockville show. Both Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante are now well versed in the material and have surpassed all expectations as members of the band.

After another fan favorite and chorus churner in “I’m Broken”, the reformed Pantera went into deep track mode with the super aggressive “Suicide Note Part 2” from The Great Southern Trendkill. Bassist Rex Brown and Benante sounded like they have been playing together for decades as their timing was dead on balls.

After “5 Minutes  Alone” and the crowd repeater “This Love” Pantera broke out another deep cut in “Floods” as once again, pictures of Dime and Vinnie played on the large video screens. The brooding 7 minute track concluded with a beautiful solo by Zakk  that would have made Dime proud. 

The song also gave the fans a bit of a break to get ready for the rest of chain of energy that started with “Walk.” Wrestling legend, Fozzy frontman, and Tampa resident Chris Jerico helped out during the chorus with a few pals including Randy Blythe as the yellow spot lights smothered Wylde.   

Explosions and fire balls encompassed the stage directly to the right and left of Benante then Rex Brown then took center stage as he rang out the opening bass line to “Domination.” Anselmo addressed the crowd asking the fans if they would come back to see them once again as Wylde played the opening notes to “Cowboys From Hell”.

The pyro was in full effect and it should be as “Cowboys” is so significant in the history of the music we love and another fan favorite.  We though the night was over as the band did the throwing out of picks and sticks to the crowd  but the band returned to perform “Fucking Hostile,” Anselmo mentioned that 99 percent of Pantera fans know and relate to this song.

It was a perfect ending to this Monday night of metal madness. High speed aggression, horns raised in the air and metal legends taking the crowd back to the beginnings and through the career of Pantera and paying tribute to Dime and Vinnie’s music and memory.   

The band came out to center stage, took a bow and a few pics then Anselmo took the mic once again. He then asked everyone to join in as they have done in the past to sing “And She’s Buying The Stair Fucking Way To” and dropped the mic for the crowd to scream “Heaven.”

As the exhausted crowd departed the venue, many were thankful that they were able to see this version of Pantera at this time in their lives. If you were ever a fan of the band, you will love this show as they leave it all on the stage for their departed brothers and all the Cowboys from Hell out in the crowd.

For upcoming shows and info https://pantera.com/tour/