Pantera Brought “The Heaviest Tour of The Summer” to Hartford Connecticut’s Xfinity Theater 0n August 3, 2025, and it lived up to its name!

August 5, 2025
International Concert Reviews, International Galleries
by Jody Wilk Photographer/Writer

Four-time Grammy nominee Pantera came to Hartford, Connecticut’s Xfinity Theater, bringing the “Heaviest Tour of The Summer” to town along with Amon Amarth and King Parrot. On a hot Sunday afternoon in early August, a crowd of Pantera fans gathered in the parking lot of the venue to pre-game and get ready for a night of heavy music, great food from some of the local food trucks in attendance, adult beverages, and crowd-surfing and moshing. The line to get in was long, but security got everyone through swiftly, as many of them went on to the merch booths to get some cool band swag. Just a tip, if you have never been here before, bypass the first merch stand and head inside the building as that stand is usually less crowded early on.

King Parrot opened the night and definitely held up to their end of the bargain on the Heaviest Tour of the Summer. They are a grindcore band from Melbourne, Australia. The mosh pit started early. They have 4 studio albums and 2 EP’s and were formed in 2010. This was the ninth stop on their two-and-a-half-month US tour that the band was playing in support of their recently released album entitled A Young Person’s Guide to King Parrot. Matthew Young leads the band with intense passion and was sporting a Sadistik Exekution shirt with cutoff sleeves. They were an extreme metal band from Australia back in the 80’s and 90’s. King Parrot got the crow moshing to their ten-song set of songs spanning their career with three songs off their latest release. Andrew Livingstone-Squires had his hair flailing throughout the show while rocking the guitar. These guys have been playing together for many years and put on a tight and strong set of music. Newest member to the band is drummer Max Dangerfield, who just joined the band this year and did so seamlessly.

King Parrot Is:

Matthew “Youngy” Young – Lead vocals

Ari “Mr. White” White – Guitar

Wayne “Auntie Slatts” Slattery – Bass, backing vocals

Andrew “Squiz” Livingstone-Squires – Guitar

Max Dangerfield – Drums

Setlist:

1. Home Is Where the Gutter Is

2. Disgrace Yourself

3. Get What Ya Given

4. Target Pig Elite

5. Psychotherapy and Valium

6. Piss Wreck

7. Shit on The Liver

8. Bozo

9. Hell Comes Your Way

10. Fuck You and The Horse You Rode in On

Sweden’s Melodic Death Metal band, Amon Amarth, was up next and hit the stage with a theatrical production. Giant inflatable Vikings flanked the stage, and the drum riser was a huge Viking helmet with light-up eyes. The crowd had filled in the pavilion area nicely by the time they began. Johan Hegg leads the charge with a burly presence and a growling, yet understandable, vocal ability. If you haven’t gotten the gist of this band yet, they have also been described as Viking Metal. They sing about Nordic Viking mythology and Lore.

They kicked off their set with “Guardians of Asgaard”. Asgaard being a place associated with Gods in Nordic Mythology. During the next song, “Shield Wall”, two warriors came out onto the risers wearing Nordic clothing with a shield and sword. Amon Amarth really makes you feel like you are living within a time long gone.

Dressed all in black, wearing leather bracers and donning a drinking horn on his side, Johan Hegg commands the fans to sit down and row with him during the song “Put Your Back into the Oar”. Next, they played a rocking tune that they just released a few weeks ago, along with a video which can be found on YouTube, called “We Rule the Waves”. Then, during “Raise Your Horns”, Johan Hegg raises his drinking horn and toasts the crowd. The final song of the set was “Twilight of the Thunder Gods”. Warriors dressed in chain mail armor and metal helmets came on stage and got on the risers flanking the drum kit waving flags with runes on them. The right character is “Ash” for the letter “A” and the left rune is a mirror image, essentially forming the initials of the band, which could also be seen on their shirts.

Amon Amarth is:

Olavi Mikkonen – Lead guitar

Johan Hegg – Vocals

Ted Lundstrom – Bass

Johan Soderberg – Rhythm guitar

Jocke Wallgren – Drums

Setlist:

1. Guardians of Asgaard

2. Shield Wall

3. The Pursuit of Vikings

4. Deceiver of The Gods

5. Put Your Back into the Oar

6. We Rule the Waves

7. The Way of Vikings

8. Raise Your Horns

9. Twilight of The Thunder God

After a run of packed stadium shows with Metallica and playing at Ozzy’s Back to The Beginning concert in Birmingham, England, Pantera has launched their Heaviest Tour of the Summer, which runs through September 13, along with Amon Amarth and King Parrot on most dates. They also have dates scheduled for 2026 back out playing stadiums with Metallica. They will also be playing select shows in Europe next spring. With long-time members Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo and current touring members Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante, this version of Pantera couldn’t be a better tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. Phil was sporting a King Parrot t-shirt, and Zakk had on a vest with a tribute to St. Dime and St. Vinnie and a Cowboy’s from Hell logo on the back. Phil made sure to mention that everything they do is a tribute to Dime and Vinnie, and also, they are now paying tribute to Ozzy as well. Although at this show, they didn’t perform any Black Sabbath songs like they did at a few shows after Ozzy’s passing.

A huge curtain with the Pantera logo on it covered the stage during the opening music and videos. Once that dropped, the band kicked the set off to a roaring crowd with the song “Hellbound”, followed by the hard-hitting, “5 Minutes Alone”. A huge drum kit at the back of the stage, along with a wall of speaker cabinets on either side, made it tough to get photos of Charlie. Behind the amplifiers were a bunch of fire cannons that blew fire up into the air synchronized to the music which made for some cool photos. Phil’s vocal abilities are still amazing, and Zakk does a fantastic job honoring Dimebag on his badass signature Schecter Warhammer guitar.

Pantera plowed through a set of music consisting mostly of songs from Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven. A few minutes into “This Love”, Phil stopped the song and started it over due to microphone issues. Second time’s a charm, as everything sounded great. They ended their regular set with my all-time favorite Pantera song, “Cowboys from Hell”.

During the encore, they played one of their most popular songs, “Walk”, and included Amon Amarth, King Parrot, and also David Ellefson (formerly of Megadeth) on stage with them. They helped sing along as did the entire audience with the flames shooting up near the back of the stage dancing along to the music. Pantera ended the night of moshing, crowd surfing, and heavy metal classics with “Fucking Hostile” and the fans went home exhausted and exhilarated from the excellent show they just witnessed.

I’m not sure what this fall holds for Pantera, but you can catch them in Europe headlining some shows in the spring, or next summer out with Metallica again.

Pantera Is:

Rex Brown – Bass, backing vocals

Phil Anselmo – Lead vocals

Zakk Wylde – Guitars, backing vocals (touring)

Charlie Benante – Drums (touring)