Renowned frontman Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA) celebrated his 45th birthday yesterday in Athens, Greece, joining heavy metal legends SLAYER on stage at the Heavy By The Sea festival to perform the PANTERA classic “Fucking Hostile”. Video footage may be viewed below.
In the last couple of years, Anselmo and SLAYER guitarist Kerry King have taken part in several installments of the “Metal Masters” clinic series, during which they have played a number of SLAYER and PANTERA cuts.
Phil Anselmo stated the following in a interview with Full Metal Jackie: “I’m up there with guys that I’ve known since the ’80s who have a good five, six years on me of playing music and being successful, people that I looked up to and still look up to… The thing is just being up there with those guys is overwhelming enough, but then playing the PANTERA songs, don’t get me wrong, it feels great, it feels fantastic, and it does bring me back to a very powerful place, a very unique place in history. I guess, growing up and cuttin’ my chops and growing up with the guys in PANTERA, we always played with a chip on our shoulder and you get that rush of memory when you’re up there doing it, but it’s a lot of emotions balled up into one, but they’re all pretty damn good. For me, the most fun thing about it of all is just seeing the fan reaction. I’ve always said that PANTERA fans were the best in the world, and I truly meant that and I still mean it. That’s why ‘Metal Masters’ keeps the pulse of the whole thing going.”