Photos by David Rubene
Were you one of the lucky ones to snag a ticket for Thursday night? It was a hot ticket, to say the least, and there were only about 1,500 of them. Okay, I know that 1,500 seems like a lot of people, but when it comes to a legendary band like Pantera that will be playing at a 73,000-capacity venue on Friday night, this was truly the hottest ticket of a lifetime, and I was honored to have one.
First, let’s talk about the venue – First Avenue. If you’ve seen the film Purple Rain, you know this venue. If you’ve been reading my writings for any amount of time, you know that this is my second home. It may be just a “black box” to some, but to those who know, this is a place where legends are made. The outside walls of the venue are covered in silver stars with the names of various acts written on them. These acts have sold out the mainroom and hit other criteria (that is honestly a bit of a secret), and one of those stars has the name Pantera in it. Pantera played the legendary club during their come-up in the metal scene, so it was almost like a return home for them after their storied, tragic, epic, and truly insane journey to the top of the metal world.
Oh, Pantera. What is there to say about this band? Although they are a metal band that is known for their abrasive sound and sometimes questionable behavior, I feel like they seeped into every household in the world at one time or another. Whether it is their loud and aggressive brand of music or their backstory that includes the tragic murder of guitarist Dimebag Darrell at a 2004 show in Columbus, Ohio, and the death of drummer Vinnie Paul, this band has been through hell and back and to say that they are legendary feels so understated. They have been doing their thing since 1981 and, other than a break between 2003 and 2022, haven’t stopped. They have nine full-length albums out, but they haven’t had one since their 2000 release, ‘Reinventing the Steel”, there’s.’ That being said, there’s something so timeless and classic about this band that the thought of them putting new music out there is daunting.
So how did this truly megastar status band end up playing cozy ol’ First Avenue on Thursday? Pantera is in town to open for Metallica at the U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday. I’m not sure why Pantera chose Minneapolis as the place to host their first club show in decades but I have a feeling it was to pay homage to the legendary venue in this amazing music town. It all happened super quickly. On Monday, First Avenue posted that CFH was playing in the mainroom. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t know who CFH was and I already had a couple of other shows happening that night. That’s when I started getting the texts. CFH stood for Cowboys From Hell– the title of Pantera’s 1990 album (and arguably their most legendary). There was speculation as to whether this would just be the performance of a cover band or something like that, but then word started getting out that this would be, in fact, a performance from Pantera. It was one of those “pinch me” kind of moments. Was this really happening? Was Pantera really going to be playing my home away from home? It may have been a cruel joke, maybe all a lie, but at 10 AM on Tuesday morning, when tickets went on sale, I went for it, got online, and somehow snagged a coveted golden ticket.
I still didn’t believe it was real until Thursday night. As my friends (who had also gotten lucky as far as the ticket-buying experience went) and I walked up to First Avenue, we were greeted by a sea of people all wearing black and all with the biggest smiles on their faces. As we got into the venue, it was packed beyond belief. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to sold-out shows at this venue more times than I can count, but this was sold-out, and it just added to the excitement of the night. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the long lines and a last-minute addition of an opening act leading to a thirty-minute shift in start time, I missed opening comedian Craig Gass. He couldn’t have been on stage for more than fifteen or twenty minutes because, by the time I got into the club, the stage was already set for Pantera.
From the downbeat of their opener, “A New Level,” and until the very end of the one-song encore of “Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit”, I was lost. I was lost in the magic of the night and the sounds of the band. It was one of those shows where I was a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out where to look. Of course, I wanted to watch the band perform, but at the same time, I got a thrill out of watching those around me. People of all ages were singing along. They were head banging with sweat rolling down their heads and a big cheesy grin stretching across their faces. Don’t get me wrong, I’m used to seeing really excited people at all of the shows I go to, but there was something different about this one. People weren’t just excited; they were honored. It wasn’t lost on anyone inside of First Avenue that this was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of show, and that almost meant more to me than watching the actual band.
That being said, Pantera sounded great as they powered through their eleven-song set, followed by a one-song encore. That’s no surprise as the sound system in First Avenue is state of the art, but it was just super nice as I know their performance on Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium will be lacking when it comes to the flawless nature of the sound (that’s not a jab on the band, U.S. Bank Stadium is not built for concerts and has never sounded great). The twelve songs that the band played only lasted for a hair over an hour, which didn’t feel like long at all, but, at the same time, this was such a treat that they honestly could have played just three songs, and I think everyone would have been in the same amount of awe.
Out of all of the songs that the band played and all of the moments that made up my Thursday night, the band playing “Walk” was the highlight. There was speculation that the boys from Metallica (yes, the almighty Metallica) would be at this show just because they are in town all weekend to play U.S. Bank Stadium both Friday and Sunday night (Sunday does not feature Pantera). It made sense for Metallica to be at this show, but I did not expect Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo to take the stage with Pantera during “Walk.” It was like an out-of-body experience watching it happen. Here I was at a venue that, some weeks, I spend more time at than I do at my own house, and I was watching Metallica and Pantera play like it was 1989.
My life has taken me to some pretty crazy places. From working concerts that I could only ever dream of to meeting megastars that people wouldn’t believe, my life has truly become a dream. Thursday night at First Avenue will absolutely be a highlight of that dream. Being able to feel so close to such a legendary band was truly one of those moments where I was left just wondering how in the heck I got here.
