The legendary First Avenue venue perplexed its followers on social media on Monday afternoon when it posted a promotional photo of its Star Wall and the center star had “CFH” inside. Pantera is opening for Metallica at US Bank Stadium the following night so many followers assumed “CFH” was simply a cover band that would pay tribute the night before. Besides, they were promoting tickets at only $32. To everyone’s amazement, the “CFH” was none other than Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, Zakk Wylde, and Charlie Benante, who planned a special night at the 1550-person capacity venue. The news hit every online publication and metalheads across the country longed to witness this unusual event. The venue took precautions to see this event available for fans only, limiting sales to 6 tickets per buyer, with no transfers, and no reselling allowed. Not surprisingly, the tickets went on sale Tuesday morning at ten and sold out within minutes.
The doors opened at 7:00 Thursday night and for the following hour, the happiest fans poured into the venue, astounded at the opportunity before them. Around 8:00, a middle-aged man, sporting glasses and a ball cap stepped up on stage and introduced himself as the band’s manager. He then announced that Pantera would be recording the night’s performance for a future live album and had the crowd scream for a sound check. After our job was done, he confessed to being comedian/actor Craig Gass and entertained us with a spot-on impression of Lars Ulrich. When he walked off stage, our anticipation grew as a curtain descended and the crew set the stage.
At 8:30, Pantera kicked things off with “A New Level” and the crowd went bezerk. The setlist was great, but not lengthy. (I’m assuming because the show will have to fit on one disc to release a live album). They relied heavily on “Vulgar Display of Power,” and only played one full song off of “Cowboys From Hell,” “The Great Southern Trendkill,” and “Reinventing the Steel.” They also played a killer medley of “Domination” and “Hollow.” Highlighting the night was seeing Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo of Metallica join them on stage to scream the choruses to “Walk.” They closed their set with “Cowboys From Hell” and played “Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit” as an encore.
The only merchandise items available that night were an exclusive T-shirt and poster to commemorate this special night at First Ave, and they too, sold out fast. Since the band reformed, I’ve heard a handful of older fans complain that “this isn’t Pantera.” First of all, many of us slightly younger fans never got to see Pantera back in the day and this is the closest thing we have to the “real thing.” Second, having Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante fill in for the late Abbott brothers is the perfect and honorable choice. And lastly, the haters have not seen this current lineup. No one in the First Ave venue would deny how amazing the show was. During this special show, we witnessed the Cowboys from Hell rise to a new level and it’s evident that they are becoming one of the greats in metal again.
