Pantera in Newport

My ticket

The Pantera concert I saw at the Newport Center way back in September 1994 was one of the best moshing events ive been to. And ive been to quite a few! The metal world had recently been stunned by Kurt Cobain's suicide a few months earlier and this gig provided for much needed relief after the sad news.
The band had just released their Far Beyond Driven album, which was getting a LOT of play on my sound system at the time. Hey theres no faulting it, its a great f**king heavy record! And I was stoked to see them touring it. I would'nt spend a night in Newport for any old band. Laughs.
A cool thing I remember about this gig is while we were having a few drinks outside the venue, Pantera's head roadie Jeff 'Mayhem' Thompson came out and joined us Welsh headbangers for a bit. It added to what was a fantasic bloody night of good tunes and shredding guitar licks from Dimebag Darrell. I can't f**king believe these two awesome dudes are no longer with us. Such a b@stard shame.
And know this; to this very day I count myself not just lucky but BLESSED to have gotten to hear Dime play live. One of the best guitarists EVER!
Everyone had a blast in this gig, and I must have sweated the alcohol clean out of my system in the pits. (Don't worry, I put it all back in at the bar later). Ive seen some heavy bands in the Newport Center, including a brutal gig from Suicidal Tendancies, but I can safely say the Pantera guys DELIVERED the goods to Wales. F**king epic concert!

Pantera were supported by Downset.