Fans Express Outrage Over Power Trip’s Pantera Tour Announcement

This week, Dallas hardcore/thrash metal crossover band Power Trip announced that they will be joining another iconic North Texas metal band, Pantera, on a 21-date European tour starting in January 2025. While some fans are excited to see these two powerhouse groups representing the Lone Star State overseas, the reaction has been largely critical – particularly in Instagram comments that Power Trip has deleted from their announcement post.

Since their live performance comeback following the untimely death of founding vocalist Riley Gale in 2020, Power Trip has been shrouded in controversy over a contentious legal battle with Gale’s estate (as well as the scandal surrounding guitarist Blake Ibanez’ anti-Palestinian social media posts). The outrage continues as fans denounce Power Trip’s decision to join this European tour in the face of Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo’s track record of flagrant public displays of nazism.

In a 2018 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Riley Gale explicitly condemned Anselmo in an explanation of the band’s previous decision against touring alongside his side-project band.

Gale explained, “We turned down a Superjoint Ritual tour, mainly because I don’t want to be associated with (former Pantera singer) Phil Anselmo, I didn’t know him personally, but I know he has gotten in trouble for saying a lot of stupid s— (celebrating ‘white power’ on stage, for which he later apologized). I didn’t want to be in the position of defending that. It’s down to what kind of band we want to be associated with, as people as much as anything musical.”

In 2019, Gale tweeted (on the platform now operating as X) a shaming of Anselmo for touring under the name Pantera shortly after the death of founding drummer Vinnie Paul. In the tweet's posthumous context of Power Trip continuing on without Gale, the sentiment reads as a chilling and tragic self-fulfilling prophecy.
After this week’s tour announcement went live, X user @derp_bert responded that both Dimebag Darrell (Pantera’s late guitarist) and Riley Gale would be “pissed” over the decision.

I just can't get on board with this, Dimebag and Riley would be pissed, Phil should be shunned for the n*zi salute shit

— BertDerpDerp (@derp_bert) September 16, 2024

A myriad of critical comments have been removed from the official Power Trip Instagram page, including those pictured below:
Authoritative music blog Justified Arrogance posted a screenshot from a privately maintained message board insisting the band was “cashing in [a] dead band mate’s legacy”.
In perhaps the most brutal and accusatory jab at Power Trip, Reddit user @panosNYHC posted a satirical mock-up of t-shirt merchandise for the upcoming tour – featuring the bands logo along with both the Israeli flag and the Confederate flag.

New Power Trip shirt dropped for the Pantera tour
byu/panosNYHC inHardcore

As of now, neither Power Trip nor Pantera have responded to the public uproar, and it appears the show will go on despite fan reaction.