PANTERA will play New Orleans for the first time in thirty years. The band top the bill at THE GREAT NOLA TRENDKILL, a two-day festival at the Lakefront Arena on November 20 and 21, presented by Housecore Horror, Housecore Records and Live Nation.
The name is not accidental. The weekend doubles as a nod to the thirtieth anniversary of "The Great Southern Trendkill", the 1996 album on which PANTERA got more extreme rather than less, at precisely the moment the industry expected them to soften.
The other headline slot belongs to DOWN, who will use the weekend as the official release show for "Volume V". The album lands on November 20 — the festival's opening day — through Nuclear Blast Records. We covered its announcement in August, along with Pepper Keenan's account of tracking it the way the band cut "NOLA": one guitar each, hard left and hard right.
Rounding out the bill are BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, POWER TRIP, CROWBAR, EYEHATEGOD, PIG DESTROYER, RĀDE and HERAKLEION. Individual day lineups will be revealed later.
What the poster does not spell out is how tightly interlocked it all is. Philip H. Anselmo fronts both PANTERA and DOWN. Zakk Wylde plays guitar in PANTERA and leads BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. Pepper Keenan is in DOWN and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, Kirk Windstein in DOWN and CROWBAR, Jimmy Bower in DOWN and EYEHATEGOD. Five musicians are pulling double duty across the weekend, which is less a scheduling quirk than an accurate description of how New Orleans metal has always worked.
The Housecore Horror Festival returns as part of it, more than a decade after Anselmo launched it: screenings, vendors, special appearances and horror-industry personalities spread across venues around the city. Note that this side of the weekend is not covered by the all-in arena ticket, with further details still to come.
"To be back in New Orleans with such a package of bands and events is a dream come true," Anselmo said. "Besides PANTERA and DOWN, we have great NOLA and national bands playing, Housecore Records and Housecore Horror specialties, horror industry personalities, talented artists, and so much more. Please come down to my hometown and have a blast the entire weekend!"
PANTERA have been active again since 2022, with Anselmo and Rex Brown joined by Wylde and ANTHRAX's Charlie Benante. That version of the band has headlined Download, Sonic Temple and Welcome To Rockville, sold out Madison Square Garden, and spent close to three years out with METALLICA on the M72 World Tour.
Tickets:
- Artist presale — Tuesday, September 8, 1:00pm EST (password: NOLA)
- Live Nation, Ticketmaster and local presales — Wednesday, September 9, 11:00am EST
- General on sale — Friday, September 11, 11:00am EST
- https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B006522ED382003
Travel VIP packages are available through vipnation.com, bundling two-day festival tickets, a two-night hotel stay, a specially designed VIP merch item and shuttle service to and from the festival grounds. Contents vary by package.
Dates:
- November 20, 2026 — Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA
- November 21, 2026 — Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA