metal band
After heavy criticism: Pantera does not appear at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park
Pantera singer Phil Anselmo
© Fotoarena / Imago Images
The fact that a band whose singer gave the Hitler salute and shouted “White Power” at a concert years ago was supposed to perform at two of the largest German rock festivals triggered a wave of outrage. Now the organizers have reacted – and uninvited the band Pantera.
Heavy metal band Pantera is said to not play at the music festivals “Rock im Park” and “Rock am Ring” after all. “The band Pantera will not perform at Rock im Park and Rock am Ring 2023 as announced,” said the organizers on Monday evening on Twitter in identical statements.
After intensive discussions with artists, partners and festival fans, the decision was taken to remove the band from the programme. The group was also missing when the line-ups were announced on the homepages of the twin festivals in Nuremberg and at the Nürburgring in the Eifel region at the beginning of June.
Singer Phil Anselmo is said to have performed the Hitler salute on stage in 2016
The planned appearance had caused criticism in recent weeks. Among other things, the Greens wanted to prevent the appearance of the metal group (you can read the background to this here).
The singer of the US band, Phil Anselmo, is said to have made racist remarks on a stage in 2016 and shown the Hitler salute. A video of it made the rounds on the internet. Anselmo later apologized for this. The metal singer dismissed the hand signal and exclamation as a “backstage joke”. There was additional criticism with regard to the venue: “Rock im Park” takes place in Nuremberg on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds.