Zakk Wylde says he is 'beyond honored' to take part in upcoming Pantera tour
Wylde, tapped to fill the late Dimebag Darrell's guitar role alongside Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante for Vinnie Paul, called the run — Pantera's first live shows in 20 years — a celebration rather than a reformation of the original band.
Guitarist Zakk Wylde said he is "beyond honored" to take part in the upcoming Pantera tour, joining surviving members Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown alongside Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, according to coverage from Blabbermouth and NME published July 17-18, 2022. Wylde and Benante were recruited to fill the roles left by the band's late co-founders, guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, both of whom have died.
Singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown signed a deal with Artist Group International for a series of 2023 US tour dates, according to NME's reporting, marking what that coverage described as the band's first performances in 20 years. The tour, approved by the estates of Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell, is billed as a celebration tour rather than a reunion of the original lineup, and was reported to be scheduled to headline major festivals across North America and Europe along with some standalone headline concerts, though specific dates and venues were not detailed in the available reporting.
I'm beyond honoured to be a part of it.
A long-standing connection to the band
Wylde said his involvement traces back to conversations with Vinnie Paul before his death. "When Vinnie was still alive...I just always told 'em, I said, 'Of course I would…'" Wylde said, describing a standing willingness to take part that predates the current tour, according to the Blabbermouth report. He compared the tour to the annual "Dimebash" tribute events held in Dimebag Darrell's memory: "I think it's a beautiful thing. It's like when we do the [annual] 'Dimebash' [events], it's a celebration of Dime's greatness," he told NME.
Not a reformation, in Wylde's own framing
Obviously, it's not Pantera. Pantera is those four guys – it's Phil, Rex, Dime and Vinnie. But it's just like when [Led Zeppelin] went out with Jason Bonham playing, it was phenomenal.
Wylde drew that direct comparison to Led Zeppelin's surviving members touring with Jason Bonham — son of late drummer John Bonham — in place of his father, according to NME's reporting. He described the Pantera run in similar terms: "It's a Pantera celebration – that's what it is… You're celebrating Vinnie and Dime's greatness and you're celebrating all the mountains that Pantera conquered and crushed," he said. That framing positions the tour as a tribute built around Anselmo and Brown rather than a claim that the current lineup is a continuation of Pantera itself.
What the lineup signals
Recruiting Wylde — a guitarist with his own long solo career, ties to Ozzy Osbourne, and his own band, Black Label Society — alongside a drummer from a separate iconic thrash band, Anthrax, reflects a broader pattern in rock of surviving members touring under a legacy name with hired guns explicitly framed as tribute rather than replacement. Wylde's own Led Zeppelin/Jason Bonham comparison shows the framing was a deliberate choice on his part, not just a label applied by press coverage, to manage expectations about what the reunited stage presence could and could not be after two of the original four members had died.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Blabbermouth and NME. It restores a story originally published on this site in July 2022; figures are as reported at the time.