Pantera and Amon Amarth brought The Heaviest Tour of the Summer to Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater on Saturday July 26 for an evening of some of the best live heavy metal currently on display. The Long Island, New York show will be the last before a tour hiatus to pay tribute to and mourn the death of the late Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 22.
Amon Amarth took the stage flanked by massive statues and a pair of dueling warriors holding shields and swords. The band opened with Twilight of the Thunder God staple “Guardians of Asgaard” to the delight of the audience. “The Pursuit of Vikings” from Fate of Norns arguably received the most enthusiastic response. The diverse, fifty minute set included the newly released single “We Rule the Waves”, powerful Deceiver of the Gods title track, and epic set closer “Twilight of the Thunder God”. Vocalist Johan Hegg dedicated Jomsviking track “Raise Your Horns” to the late, great Osbourne, continuing a trend of bands paying homage to one of rock and metal’s legendary figures.
Pantera exploded on to the stage with Reinventing the Steel opener “Hellbound”, one of four “new old” songs that Pantera added to its headlining tour setlist after performing virtually identical sets during the 2023-2025 Metallica M72 No Repeat Weekend events. While the 2024 headlining tour did not showcase any Reinventing material (the band opted for a pair of The Great Southern Trendkill tracks, “Floods” and “Suicide Note Part II” during the winter 2024 arena dates), a trio of Steel songs appear in 2025 sets. Record closer “I’ll Cast a Shadow” was a welcome addition, and “Goddamn Electric” was memorable because powerhouse front man Phil Anselmo played a guitar solo using a “Dean from Hell” in homage to the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.
The quartet- also featuring original member Rex Brown on bass as well as the mighty Zakk Wylde on guitar and Charlie Benante on drums - continues to emphasize the classic Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven material, with nearly 2/3 of the band’s set consisting of material from those two celebrated records. The monstrous, more groove-oriented Driven material appeared early, as four of the first seven songs (“5 Minutes Alone,” “Strength Beyond Strength,” “Becoming,” and “I’m Broken”) were from March 22, 1994 release that skyrocketed to Billboard #1 status. The lone Trendkill track was “10’s,” which made its live debut on the opening night of the tour in Pennsylvania. “Cowboys From Hell” was, fittingly, the set closer. Pantera, yet again, "took over" the town in which it performed.
Only two Vulgar songs appeared during the main set (“Mouth for War” and “This Love”), but three full songs were played in the encore (“A New Level”, “Walk”, and show closer “Fucking Hostile”). The medley of “Domination/Hollow” featured part of a sixth Vulgar song.
It is exceedingly rare that the arguable highlight of a Pantera concert is not a Pantera song, but the band paid tribute to Ozzy by opening the encore with Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral” from the landmark Paranoid. The band first performed "Funeral" at Back to the Beginning 2025, the massive tribute to Osbourne and Sabbath held in Birmingham, England on July 5.
The Heaviest Tour of the Summer will continue into mid-September, and is arguably the top U.S. metal tour of the season's circuit.
