Pantera brought their Heaviest Tour Of The Summer to New York for a killer night of high energy with openers Amon Amarth and Shock Narcotic.
As the stadium started filling with the sky fading into the twilight, Shock Narcotic took to the stage. They are a Detroit-based grindcore supergroup formed in 2018, comprising of members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Child Bite, Black Dahlia Murder, and Battlecross. They are currently signed to Phil Anselmo’s label, Housecore Records. The fellas recently put out their second full-length titled My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not, which is described to be a diverse journey into madness. They brought their aggressive, unique style as the first riff was dropped along with the heavy vocals by Shawn Knight. With the grueling samples, they had the crowd’s attention from the start. This was the perfect start for a night of metal mayhem.
As the night progressed, the crowd was awaiting the arrival of the Swedish Vikings to make their way to the stage. Amon Amarth really is quite an experience with their theatrical stage presence, as well as the tall statues overseeing their journey and melodic style of death metal. They definitely have their following, and it certainly was present. They kicked off the set with “Guardians Of Asgaard” from their seventh studio album, which set the tone and had the crowd singing along from then on out. Vocalist Johan Hegg was all over the stage, belting out lyrics as though viking warriors were battling. It was quite a sight to see. During “Put Your Back Into The Oar,” the whole stadium was motioning the act of oars rowing with the chants of “Row, Row, Row.” It was a most infectious encounter. Toward the end of their set, they performed “Raise Your Horns,” dedicated to the late Ozzy Osbourne, which had the whole place with the horns up in the air. It was a most incredible sight. At the end of the song, Johan threw up his horns and put down a beer in his Viking horn in celebration of Ozzy’s life. As Pantera was about to take the stage, the crowd was ecstatic and ready for what was to come. As the curtain dropped, the legends jumped right into “Hellbound” as they literally brought the fire. It was electric. With the crazy intricate riffs of Zakk Wylde on lead guitar and Charlie Benante on drums, Vinnie and Dime would say their legacy lives on with this supergroup. Phil, Rex, Zakk, and Charlie ripped through all the classics and had the fans going off for the solid hour and 35-minute set and loving every second of every song, singing word for word.The energy was powerful throughout the whole set as they are so on top of their game, and super tight.. Multiple tracks from A Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven were crowd favorites. Zakk Wylde’s guitar wizardry dominated his presence on stage. Phil Anselmo grabbed Zakk’s guitar at one point and killed it as a solo homage to the late Dimebag Darrell.
The whole set was different and had a really special feeling to it, especially in the wake of the recent passing of the late great Ozzy Osbourne. It was, in other words, like magic. During the encore, they did a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral,” which was absolutely incredible. Phil nailed it, and the giant projection screens displayed visuals and memories of the late Ozzy, the Prince of Darkness. They closed out the night with no other then “F**king Hostile,” which left the crowd amped with memories of an amazing night.
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