Four dates into the Pantera reunion tour and Rex Brown has just missed a show

Rex Brown onstage in Bogota
(Image credit: Guillermo Legaria Schweizer/Getty Images)

Pantera bassist Rex Brown has missed the fourth show of the band's reunion tour after pulling out of their Knotfest performance in Santiago, Chile, at the weekend. His place was taken by Cattle Decapitation bassist Derek Engemann, who also plays with Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo in his solo side project Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals and in black metal supergroup Scour.

Knotfest organisers released a statement which read, "The bass guitarist of the band Pantera, Rex Brown, could not perform at Knotfest due to health problems. We regret this situation. However, the show proceeded as normal." (statement machine translated from Spanish.)

Drummer Charlie Benante released a short video shot during the Santiago show on Instagram, commenting, "We missed Rex tonight, get better buddy!"

No official announcement has been made about the nature of Brown's condition, although Chilean radio station Futuro FM reports that Brown tested positive for covid-19 after the band's Knotfest show on December 9 in Bogota, Columbia, and flew home to the US to quarantine. 

Pantera's next scheduled show is also in Santiago, at the 17,000-capacity Movistar Arena, this evening. They then head to Brazil for two shows, on December 15 at the Vibra in Sao Paulo, before another Knotfest date in the same city three days later. Full schedule below. 

Pantera 2022-23 live dates

Dec 12: Santiago Movistar Arena, Chile*
Dec 15: Sao Paulo Vibra, Brazil#
Dec 18: São Paulo Knotfest, Brazil
May 26: Sofia Armeets Arena, Bulgaria
May 27: Bucharest Metalhead Meeting Open Air Festival, Romania
May 30:  Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary
May 31: Vienna Gasometer, Austria
Jun 2-4: Nürburgring Rock Am Ring, Germany
Jun 2-4: Nürnberg Rock Im Park, Germany
June 06: Lodz Atlas Arena, Poland
June 8-10: Rock Fest Hyvinkaa, Finland
June 10: Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
June 12: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
June 13: Berlin Verti Music Hall, Germany
June15: Copenhagen Copenhell, Denmark
June 21: Hamburg Edel Optics, Germany
Jun 22-24: Oslo Tons Of Rock, Norway
Aug 04: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NJ+
Aug 11: Montreal Stade Olympique, QC+
Aug 18: Arlington AT&T Stadium, TX+
Aug 25: Inglewood SoFi Stadium, CA+
Sep 01: Glendale State Farm Stadium, AZ+
Nov 03: St. Louis The Dome at America’s Center, MO+
Nov 10: Detroit Ford Field, MI+

* Headline show
# with Judas Priest
+ with Metallica

Pantera 2024 North America live dates

Aug 02: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA
Aug 09: Chicago Soldier Field, IL
Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, AB
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.