Pantera singer ‘sees God’ in ‘hectic’ Aussie moment

A legendary singer “saw God” among scenes of anarchy in Aussie cities, while another had some stern words during a medical emergency.

A legendary US metal singer claimed to have “seen God” among chaotic scenes in Sydney this weekend.

Some 13,000 metalheads converged on Centennial Park in the city’s east for Knotfest on Saturday for a day of headbanging and disturbingly heavy music.

The tunes were loud, fast and filthy all day long. Aussie thrashers King Parrot were going hell for leather at 11am for a nice dose of speed metal after your morning coffee.

There was a surprisingly chilled vibe however as Aussies, some tattooed from head to foot, and the majority clad in either piercings, denim, patches or leather, soaked up the autumn sun to the sound of angular, distorted guitar riffs and guttural screaming on stage.

It was like an Easter Show for an alternative universe, as metalheads of all ages chomped chips on sticks, rode fairground rides and even visited a heavy metal ‘museum’ – complete with eerie masks and equipment used by Slipknot – inside the festival grounds.

Contrary to what might stereotypically expect from thousands of fired-up metalheads, things were pretty civil. The wildest thing I saw was a ponytail sporting middle-aged bloke trying to hurdle a metal fence, but catching his foot on the wrong side and landing horribly on his spine. Without as much as reacting, he jumped up and carried on his merry way.

Things very quickly began to heat up as the sun began to drop.

Amy and Kat at Knotfest. Picture: Julian Andrews

Things were pretty chill in the daytime. Picture: Julian Andrews

Jasmine, Dave and Shayla enjoying Knotfest. Picture: Julian Andrews

Virginia-based metal band Lamb of God took to the stage and assaulted the crowd with a barbaric onslaught of technical riffs, breakneck beats and the growling vocal tones of singer Randy Blythe.

The band were forced to stop midway through their fourth song due to a medical emergency, and Blythe stood scowling into the crowd as he demanded the audience let the person needing assistance out.

Growing visibility frustrated, Blythe started chanting “move, b**ch, get out the way” in an attempt to make the crowd part and for the show to continue.

Seemingly even more p***ed off because of the delay, Lamb of God took it up another level and launched back into their cacophony of metal – and the crowd fired up by singing the haunting words of Now You’ve Got Something to Die For back at them.

It was only classics from there on out, as the band rattled off 2000s metal anthems from their back catalogue such as Ruin, Laid to Rest and Vigil.

When it was time to play white trash anthem Redneck, Blythe told the crowd he wanted to see the “biggest circle pit Sydney has ever seen”.

The audience reciprocated and an ominous hole in the mass of people opened up.

Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. Picture: Supplied/ Knotfest/@jordankmunns

As the song kicked in, bodies flew everywhere as sweat-drenched Aussies of all ages ran round in a circle as if they were driven mad by the music.

A few muscly, half-naked blokes in the middle looked as if they wanted to punch on but mostly the chaos was good-natured. When someone fell, there was a mad scramble to pick them up.

One metalhead, Sam Shaw from Cronulla told news.com.au there was only two words to describe the scenes unfolding. They were “hectic” and “chaos”.

There was a slight reprieve when Blythe and co departed.

There were two main stages at Knotfest, meaning one band could set up next door and begin immediately after the band on the other stage had finished.

US metal band Disturbed began after Lamb of God and, although they were heavy enough for your average Joe, they sounded like Phil Collins compared to their predecessors – causing some diehard metalheads waiting for the headliner – Pantera – to become somewhat restless.

Such was the contrast, that Disturbed even played a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s tear-jerker Sound of Silence. There was certainly no circle pit for that one. But, I must say as an audience member, it was nice to have a breather.

Knotfest is touring Australia. Picture: Stephen Archer

Thousands showed up in Brisbane on Sunday too. Picture: Stephen Archer

Meanwhile Pantera, who were setting up next door, hadn’t played in Australia for more than two decades. And we’ve sadly lost the band’s iconic guitarist Dimebag Darrell to a horrendous on-stage shooting in 2004 and tragically his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul to heart problems in 2018.

It was no wonder then there was an incredible sense of pent-up excitement when the band hit the stage.

Home videos of Pantera’s drunken antics in the 1990s were played to the crowd before a giant curtain with their logo and swirling marijuana leaves dropped to reveal the band and the crushing din of A New Level – from 1992’s Vulgar Display of Power.

There was an unholy crowd surge that carried this news.com.au reporter, near the front to the stage, off his feet for a good five minutes before he decided he was too old and had to drop back to a more civilised part of the crowd.

Even there, it was absolutely insane. Giant circle pits formed from nowhere and swirled as if the crowd was one organism controlled by the music.

It was amid this madness that singer Phil Anselmo paused his headbanging to stare out into the crowd momentarily, seemingly in a trance. He said “I can see God” twice. He did not seem as if he was joking in the slightest.

Phil Anselmo of Pantera. Picture: Supplied/Knotfest/ @jordankmunns & @kane_hibberd

There were wild scenes as the band played.

As an atheist and someone who has been critical of organised religion in his lyrics, it was an unexpected but dementedly brilliant moment for the frontman – who sounded incredible for his 55 years and commanded the stage effortlessly.

His voice was surprisingly on-point for all the years of abuse he has put it through, and needless to say Pantera sounded immense as they rattled through an all killer set of some of the best heavy metal songs of all time.

Dimebag’s spot was being filled by a metal legend in his own right, Ozzy Osbourne’s shredder-in-chief Zakk Wylde, while Vinnie’s place on the drums was occupied by Charles Benante, formerly of Anthrax.

There were tributes to the two late brothers throughout the show, and there was a genuine sense of something special happening when Wylde ripped into Dimebag’s famously bombastic guitar solos – especially in the soaring and unforgettable notes he hit on Floods.

“Can you feel it?,” Anselmo asked the crowd. “I can feel it. This is real.”

They may have lost two of the greatest showmen metal has ever known, but my word Pantera can still rock. Judging from the way the crowd moved, Aussies certainly know how to rock out too.