Rex Brown says Pantera‘s three-year run supporting Metallica on the “M72” tour was an honor.
Rex Brown has looked back on the run that has kept Pantera in stadiums since 2023. Speaking on “The Bass Nerds” podcast, the bassist described the “M72” tour as an honor and said the scale of it still registers.
He said: “The ‘M72‘ tour is just an honor to be on for a whole three and a half years now. And those guys are just the tops.”
Metallica built “M72” around a stage in the round at midfield, with a circular walkway and the Snake Pit at its centre giving the crowd a full view from every side. Brown said the layout took some getting used to.
He added: “The stage is a weird configuration, but once you just get up and start playing, it just comes naturally. You just have a lot of people to cover… It’s like a doughnut in the middle of a stadium. So we were playing — I think the first run we were doing, we did MetLife in New York, and we did SoFi in L.A., and Soldier Field — so many places you just dream of playing. And they were all sold to the gills. Metallica‘s huge, man.”
“M72” finished on 5 July at London Stadium, having opened on 27 April 2023 in Amsterdam. Across eight legs it ran to 99 shows in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, taking 4.23 million people and $517.5 million through 70 of those dates alone.
Pantera were on it across multiple legs, sharing support duties over the years with Suicidal Tendencies, Limp Bizkit, Ice Nine Kills, Gojira, Knocked Loose, Avatar, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Evanescence, Architects, Epica, Greta Van Fleet, Mammoth and Floor Jansen.
They also closed it. The final European leg ran a two-night stand at London Stadium, with Gojira and Knocked Loose on 3 July and Pantera and Avatar on the 5th, the last “M72” show.
Pantera returned in December 2022 with Brown and singer Philip Anselmo, the two surviving members of the classic lineup, joined by Zakk Wylde on guitar and Charlie Benante on drums. Dimebag Darrell died in 2004 and Vinnie Paul in 2018.
The arrangement drew a divided response, and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was asked about it by Revolver shortly before “M72” began. He came down in favour, saying he backs musicians following their own ambitions and drawing a comparison with Glenn Hughes playing Deep Purple material. Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has his own connection to the bill, he played in Suicidal Tendencies, who shared support duties with Pantera through the 2025 North American leg.
Benante has had a busy year alongside all this. Anthrax release Cursum Perficio, their first album in a decade, on 18 September.
