’80s Metal Legends Announce New Orleans Shows, Their First in 30 Years, With Massive Lineup

Pantera is heading back to New Orleans for the first time in 30 years.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of their landmark album, The Great Southern Trendkill, the heavy metal veterans are holding a two-day festival, presented by Housecore Horror, Housecore Records, and Live Nation.

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Set for Nov. 20 and 21, the festival will take place at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. The weekend will also serve as Down’s official record-release show for its forthcoming album,  Volume V.

Further guest performances include Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Power Trip, Crowbar, Eyehategod, Rāde, Herakleion, and Pig Destroyer.

“To be back in New Orleans with such a package of bands and events is a dream come true,” Pantera vocalist Philip H. Anselmo said via Blabbermouth. “Please come down to my hometown and have a blast the entire weekend!”

Beyond music, the weekend also marks the return of the Housecore Horror Festival, with “guests, gigs, and guts” all on offer at venues across the city. Vendors, special appearances, and plenty of horror movies will be screened. Note: The Housecore Horror events are separate from the arena-show ticketing.

Founded in 1981 in Arlington, Texas, Pantera began its days as a glam-rock cover band before releasing a series of independent albums throughout the decade. Anselmo joined in 1987, helping shift the band toward the heavier sound that would define their breakthrough years.

Pantera’s major-label breakthrough came with the 1990 album, Cowboys From Hell, which helped define and popularize the groove-metal subgenre. It was followed with the monumental Vulgar Display of Power in 1992; Far Beyond Driven in 1994, which became the most extreme album to ever debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200; and The Great Southern Trendkill in 1996, a punishing record that debuted at No. 4 on the same tally.

The band’s most recent album, Reinventing the Steel, dropped in March 2000. That album also had a solid debut, landing at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and representing Pantera’s back-to-basics sound. It would be their last album before disbanding in 2003.

After announcing their return in July 2022, Pantera played their first comeback show that December at Mexico’s Hell & Heaven Metal Fest. The reformed lineup now features surviving classic-era members Anselmo and Rex Brown, joined by guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante.

Artist presale for The Great NOLA Trendkill is now open; use password NOLA. Regular presales kick off tomorrow, Sept. 9, at 11 a.m. ET. And the general sale begins Friday, Sept. 11, at the same time.

Festival and sale information is all available at pantera.com.

Related: ’80s Heavy Metal Band Announces First New Album in 8 Years, Following ‘Undress Your Madness’