Review: Pantera opens Heaviest Tour of the Summer in Pittsburgh

Touted as the Heaviest Tour of the Summer, Tuesday night’s Pantera/Amon Amarth/SNAFU show at the Pavilion at Star Lake more than lived up to the billing.

Pantera opened their tour at Star Lake, getting in several days of rehearsals at the venue after earlier opening shows for Metallica, festival appearances and a spot on Ozzy Osbourne’s final show extravaganza on July 5.

The groove metal icons originally broke up in 2003, but after the deaths of the Abbott brothers — guitarist Dimebag Darrell (in 2004) and drummer Vinnie Paul (in 2018) — singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown reformed the band in 2022. A pair of longtime friends of the band, guitarist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy) and drummer Charlie Benante (Anthrax), stepped in, and the updated lineup has toured extensively since, including a 2023 stop at Star Lake.

This time around, the groove metal icons shook up their setlist after recently teasing some “new” old songs were being added to the mix.

“You want to play all the awesome songs. You do. You want to play them,” Anselmo said. “But there’s certain songs, man …”

That was the case right from the start, as they opened with “Hellbound,” a scorching song that hadn’t been played live since 2001, with flames shooting from the stage.

“Everything we do is for Dime and Vinnie Paul,” Anselmo said, as the band ripped into two more heavy hitters, “5 Minutes Alone” and “Strength Beyond Strength.”

With a distinct style of his own, Wylde hasn’t been doing note-for-note replications of Dimebag’s solos or even riffs, honoring them instead in his own way. “A New Level” had a pleasingly sludgy riff, while “Mouth For War” felt a little slower but no less impactful.

Another live rarity, “God— Electric,” which hadn’t been played since 2001, popped in next, with Anselmo adding a guitar solo of his own near the end.

“I might need some more axe in the monitor,” he joked afterward. “I couldn’t hear the hot licks.”

An even deeper cut made its live debut, with the band playing “10’s” from 1996’s “The Great Southern Trendkill” for the first time ever. The moody, atmospheric track included candid videos of Dimebag while Wylde soloed.

A squealing guitar heralded the onset of “Becoming,” which had the crowd belting out the chorus as it did in the next song, “I’m Broken,” which ended with the pummeling drum outro from “By Demons Be Driven.”

With a foreboding intro, “This Love” sounded better in the heavier parts and a little disjointed during the quieter moments.

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The final “new” old song, “I’ll Cast A Shadow,” also hadn’t been played since 2001, with Anselmo seemingly soaking in the wall of sound.

“In the middle of this song is one of the heaviest things we’ve ever written,” he said. “So I expect you to act accordingly.”

With flaring pyro and blasting strobes, “Cowboys From Hell” led to “Walk,” arguably the band’s biggest hit despite getting little to no radio airplay during their original heyday. The powerful riff had the crowd roaring, with members of Amon Amarth and SNAFU joining on the chorus.

Brown’s bass, followed by Benante on drums, kicked off the medley of “Domination/Hollow,” which felt like a buzzsaw.

There was no encore break, but Anselmo introduced the song that most fans knew was coming: “F—ing Hostile.”

“One song, when (expletive) gets bad,” he said, “you can put this one little tune on, and it is awesome to vent to.”

The song proved to be a cathartic end of the night, although the ending felt a little abrupt with no encore until Anselmo belted out a few bars of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

Amon Amarth, a melodic metal band from Sweden, paid tribute to their heritage with a set loaded with Norse mythology lore.

The elaborate stage setup included a pair of massive statues flanking a Viking helmet-shaped drum riser and a rear mural featuring a throng of warriors. That’s not to mention the several appearances of Viking warriors, who took part in a sword fight and waved flags, a stop from Loki, and singer Johan Hegg wielding a huge Thor-like hammer.

The anthemic songs touched on similar themes, whether it was shield walls, the way of Vikings or rowing a boat — with a command from Hegg for the crowd to sit down — how often does that happen? — and pretend to row the boat.

The crowd sits down to row for Amon Amarth … that’s a new one for me pic.twitter.com/ZX8SB3I9D9

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) July 16, 2025

Musically, the band showed off their precision and tightness, with drummer Jocke Wallgren especially getting a workout with so much double bass (in a good way).

SNAFU, signed to Anselmo’s Housecore Records label, opened the show in Pittsburgh, just as they did in 2023.

Over 25 minutes, the Detroit band traded vocals among their bass player and both guitarists, including Scott Curnow with dreadlocks down to his knees, in a set packed with punk and old-school thrash metal.

Tuesday’s show is also easily the heaviest show on Star Lake’s 2025 schedule, which is otherwise filled with pop stars, classic rockers and country acts (with only the Judas Priest/Alice Cooper show as a slight contender).