2A great band once said, “We’ve got the bass drum kick that will blow out your eyes!” This describes quiet well what a Pantera concert is usually like. Pantera is one of the best rock/metal bands ever. They describe their music as “power groove”. They have the best mix of musical talent and insane, heavy music. There is no place that I would rather be than at the craziest show, a Pantera concert.Bodies everywhere. It is one giant mass of slamming flesh and muscle to one rhythmic beat. Hair is in high motion, due to the constant head banging of everyone within four miles of the show. Lights constantly flashing, giving the whole show a slow motion feel. All I can hear is the enraged people around me, and the thrashing speed metal of the band that I love. “Cowboys From Hell” and “Domination” roaring louder than anything I have ever heard before. As Phil sings, “We’re taking over this town,” I can feel the bass pounding in my head, the bodies of complete strangers colliding almost through me. The unruly pain of the crowd surfers kicking you in the back of the head as the rest of the audience throws their bodies toward the stage as if they were crash test dummies. The smell of this chaotic hell is utterly repulsive, the stench of stale beer combined with the sweet smell of marijuana smoke. The scorching Arizona heat combined with the body heat of 40,000 insane people creates an odor of unimaginable stench. The smell is so bad that you can taste it. The taste of old urine integrated with the sickening taste of salt water.If I had one choice of where to go after death, it would be an eternal Pantera show. In the band’s own words their shows are a pure chaotic “Vulgar Display of Power”. These shows may not be for everyone. It takes a certain kind of taste to enjoy having my eardrums blown, my face kicked in, and my personal privacy and space completely t...
