Rita Haney: Celebs Rumors

Pantera have paid tribute to late guitarist Dimebag Darrell on what would have been his 57th birthday. Find footage of the moment below.The tribute took place during the band’s recent stop in Austin, Texas – the same state in which the late guitarist was born in 1966.Taking to the stage on Sunday (August 20), the new line-up told the crowd that the day would have been his 57th birthday towards the start of the show.

Pantera were joined onstage by Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe along with Rita Haney, the longtime girlfriend of the late guitarist Dimebag Darrell, at their recent Texas show – watch footage below.Earlier this month, the revamped Pantera kicked off their first headline tour in 22 years in Pennsylvania.They announced plans to reunite back in July 2022, with Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne) on guitar and Charlie Benante (Anthrax) on drums, joining frontman Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown. The two new members take the place of the two late Abbott brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.As part of the US tour, the band played at Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas, on Thursday (August 17), where they performed their classic track ‘Walk’ from 1992’s ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’.Fan-shot footage shows Blythe – whose band is supporting Pantera on their US tour – and Haney joining the band on stage to sing a portion of the track together.Check out fan-shot footage of the moment below.Dimebag Darrell was shot dead in 2004 at the Alrosa Villa in Ohio.

Nickelback track ‘Side Of A Bullet’.As reported by Guitar World, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger once played the track, which appears on the band’s fifth studio album ‘For All The Right Reasons’, to Dimebag’s brother, Vinnie Paul, asking if the Pantera drummer would redo the drum parts. While he declined, he suggested the Canadian band use some of Dimebag’s unused material instead.The two groups had a close friendship and ‘Side Of A Bullet’ was written from the lyrical perspective of a Pantera fan seeking revenge for Dimebag’s death.With permission from Dimebag’s girlfriend Rita Haney, Nickelback were sent a number of solo outtakes from Pantera’s albums ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’ and ‘Far Beyond Driven’.“They were our brothers,” bassist Mike Kroeger said in a previous interview (via Guitar World).