I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 24, 2019] Slayer

I have been a fan of Slayer since their debut album, Show No Mercy.  I was a major metal head in high school, always searching for heavier and heavier music.  Metallica was great but then came Slayer.   I more or less stopped listening to them after college.  Although in 2001 (with the release of God Hates Us All on 9/11) I reintroduced myself to their newer stuff.  And since then I have been checking out each release.

Their final album, Repentless, came in 2015 and they have been touring it ever since.  This is–and I assume it’s true–their Farewell tour.

They’ve had a remarkably stable line-up over nearly 40 years.  Drummer Dave Lombardo left and then came back and then left again.  I would have loved to see Slayer with Lombardo, but I was able to see him (and actually see him) when he played with Dead Cross (I was five feet from the stage).  I would never have actually seen him with Slayer (so much stuff on stage.  I never saw Paul Bostaph behind the kit).

The only other line up change came when guitarist Jeff Hanneman died.  That was pretty major, since Hanneman co-wrote so many of the songs.  But Exodus guitarist Gary Holt filled in and has been in his place for six years (he recorded Repentless).  Holt has a different playing style (his solos are more structured), but he comes from the same heavy, dense guitar background and fits in just fine.

I had actually been intimated about going to a Slayer show, especially as an adult.  I have seen my fair share of metal shows, but I assumed the Slayer audience would be a step more intense.  Just waiting online was intimidating with every other person shouting “SLAYER!” at the top of his lungs.

I finally decided to see them in 2017 at The Electric Factory, but when I called on the night of the show to secure my ticket it had literally just sold out.  So I figured I’d never see them live.

Then they announced this farewell tour.  It was going to be at an arena (which would be less insane than a club, in terms of fan behavior) and I was able to get decent seats.  [This show was better than that one for setlist, and I have to assume pyro as well].

Actually, I wound up getting okay seats on Gary Holt’s side (row N).  Then a couple week before the show I saw that some better seats (row F in front of King) opened up for the same price as my seat.  I grabbed the ticket and tried to sell my other one on StubHub.  Well, no one was biting until after I lowered the price quite a bit (after fees I’d be getting 1/2 what I paid for it) someone bought it.  I had also listed it on my Ticketmaster app.  So when I went to transfer it to the Stubhub person, I had to unlist the TM sale first.  But somehow, even after 24 hours, I was getting errors about my ticket.  It was still listed for sale,  but when I tried to unlist it, the page crashed.  I felt bad about the ticket buyer and wrote to them that I was having a hard time with TM and would get the ticket to the ASAP.  So finally I tried chatting with someone at TM. I said I wanted to cancel my ticket listing, which they took as cancelling my order entirely.  Which they did (Could I have done that in the first place?)  Now I had no ticket for the Stubhub person.  I promptly wrote to the person to say what had happened and to say that the very same ticket was for sale at that moment from the TM site for less than they were offering me for my ticket.  I figured everybody won (except me, because I hadn’t gotten a refund yet).  The next day I get a nasty email from Stubhub saying that I violated Stubhub policy by writing to the buyer and since I clearly didn’t have the ticket any more, they were going to charge me for a bad sale.  So they wound up charging me something like $30 (which is pretty outrageous) and I was pissed because it wasn’t my fault.   I didn’t even want to go the show anymore I was so fed up with the ticket nonsense.  Obviously I went, because screw those guys, yeah!.  And midway through the night, my bank notified me of the TM refund which was full price, including fees (which I really didn’t expect).  In the end, even paying the $30 fee from Stubhub, I wound up getting back more money from my ticket than if the Stubhub person had bought it.   So, I went back into the show very happy with a full wallet (except for the $40 parking at BB&T–WHAT??) and enjoyed the hell out of Slayer.

The lights went out and a dark curtain covered the stage.  The pre-recorded strains of “Delusions of Savior” played as four crosses filled the screen.  They slowly rotated upside down.  Everybody went nuts.

Incidentally, I chose to wear a green Boy Scout Mulching T-shirt to this concert.  It was a weird act of defiance amid the sea of black and red T-shirts.  I assumed I’d get all kinds of crap for it.  But it turned out that not one but two guys talked to me about it.  One on line for the bathroom asked me what summer camp we went to and where we were located.  The other told me about meeting our Troop at the camp he works at in North Carolina.

So, it turns out that Slayer fans aren’t all that intimidating.  Most of them are dads like me–men who are too old to mosh.  And some of them are even Boy Scout leaders–Satan-worshiping, beer swilling boy scout leaders!

The crosses were summarily replaced by the Slayer logo.  And when the tape ended, the curtain dropped, the lights came on and there were Tom Araya and Kerry King just a mosh pit away from me.

I had actually considered getting pit tickets to be even closer to the stage. They were stupid expensive, even for resale.  I decided in the end that it wasn’t worth the money or the grief of being in a Slayer pit.  And since I was only F rows away from the back of the pit (which is probably where I would have been standing anyhow), I think I chose wisely.

They opened with a new song, “Repentless.”  Kerry King says the song

is an ode to Slayer’s late guitarist, Jeff Hanneman, who passed away in 2013. “I call it the Hannemanthem!” King said of the song. “I wrote that for Jeff. Oh, dude, it’s fast as fuck. You don’t know what the fuck’s coming!”  He added: “It’s my perspective of Jeff’s perspective. It’s what I think… If Jeff wrote a song for himself, ‘Repentless’ would be it.”

Even though I don’t know their newer songs as well, it was obviously Slayer.   The riff.  The drumming.  Kerry King’s amazing guitar (even in silhouette it’s awesome).  And then Tom Araya’s voice!  The one thing that was annoying about the other three bands was that all three of them sang in a deep growl.  You couldn’t understand Cannibal Corpse at all.  Amon Amarth were more understandable although I can’t hep bu think they’d be more enjoyable if he sang more than growled.  Lamb of God was a furious noise machine with all those growled vocals.  But Tom Araya can actually sing.  And yes, he screams, and yes he growls. but he has an understandable voice (if you can keep up with the words).

So yes, “Repentless” started the show at full speed and they never really let up.  It was insane to see Kerry King (55 years old) banging his head along to these super-fast riffs.

I wondered, since this was the Farewell tour if they would go in a reverse chronology like Rush did.  But no, they followed up their newest song with one of their oldest.  From their debut, they played “Evil Has No Boundaries.”  In the only nod to the fact that Tom Araya is not 21 anymore, he did not do the big scream at the opening of this song.  But otherwise, it sounded just right and took me back to the days when I drove around in my car blaring Slayer.

The set proceeded with a newer song “World Painted Blood” (holy drums, Paul Bostaph) to an older song.  Obviously I was far more psyched to hear the older songs, but the new ones sounded great too.

I don’t know if I have a favorite album among their first five, they are all awesome to me.  But to hear a song from Reign in Blood, (“Postmortem“) was just amazing.  That riff!  Those guitar lines.  It was all pure Slayer.

The backdrop was of a creepy-ass Slayer drawing (naturally) that seemed to somehow reflect the existing artwork plus adding new stuff.   After every half a dozen songs or so, the backdrop changed.  I don’t know if these were meant to reflect anything in the block of songs, but it was cool to see them change it up.

The lights were, of course, intense as well–flashing all kinds of colors to flood the stage.

I don’t know if I had a favorite backdrop, although the final one which glowed in the dark like a black light poster was pretty cool.  But in terms of having things to look at these definitely get top marks.

And the one behind Tom (left) is also pretty amazing.

All night I was marvelling at how young Tom looked.  He has had a very long, very gray beard for years and I noticed that he’s shaved it almost entirely.  He had a kind of beard mohawk that ran from his mouth to his neck, which is pretty nuts.  But he looked so much younger (and thinner).

After a blistering “Hate Worldwide” (complete with spoken word slowdown section), they moved on to the Seasons of the Abyss album with a great “War Ensemble.”  Somewhere during one of these songs the guy behind me slammed his hands on my back and I feared that he thought I wasn’t into it enough (is there a mosh police?)  But no, this was just his (inexplicable) way of showing how into he was, because we high-fived throughout the night after that.

They slowed things down immensely for “Gemini” from Undisputed Attitude.  This album I don’t know that well (it’s mostly covers).  But this is an original song from Tom and it is heavy and slow as anything.  I didn’t recognize it but I loved watching them play it–watching Kerry slow down and play some low chords, bending them with the whammy bar.  It was very cool.

I didn’t get to see all that much of Gary Holt, but he did come over to our side a few times (wearing his Kill the Kardashians shirt).  And of course, I could see all of them on the large screens from time to time.  Because even if you’re close to the stage, it’s nice to get some close ups once in a while.

I mean, you know that Kerry King is playing a wicked solo, but it’s cool to see his fingers move so fast.

And his braided goatee was amazing.

There’s few things as unsettling as an entire arena of people shouting “God Hates Us All” (during “Disciple”).  And yet there it was.

Speaking of singing along, the two guys in front of me were hilarious.  One had super long hair, the other’s head was shaved.  And they sang every single word.  To each other.  To the women behind him (I don’t think they knew each other).  To me.  To the security guard.  To anyone who would listen.  And when they weren’t singing, they were headbanging–the long-haired guy’s hair going everywhere (much to the dismay of the  guy next to him).

And then came the utterly recognizable riff of “Mandatory Suicide.”  This is one of many songs that, to me, is anti-war, anti-military.  Which is interesting given it was Memorial Day weekend and there was some nodding to the holiday earlier in the night.

I was rather surprised that they only played two songs from South of Heaven.  But they had to pick and choose, obviously (twenty songs from a forty year career).  They played a song or more from all of their albums except three Divine Intervention (1994), Diabolus in Musica (1998) and Christ Illusion (2006).

But there was no time to think about that because they started my all-time favorite Slayer song, “Chemical Warfare.”  This has been my favorite song since I first heard it on the EP.  I had a VHS tape of Venom, Exodus and Slayer at Studio 54 (yes).   And I can still remember the video of them playing this live [42:00] back then.  And here it was some 35 years later and I was seeing it live for myself.  And it was fantastic.

Despite all the Satanism and violence and hell fire. Tom Araya is a pretty funny guy.  Earlier in the night he had commented on how many little kids there were there (there were a lot).  I saw several kids under ten walking around. (with parents at least).  But he asked if everyone was ready for some “family friendly entertainment.”  Then he asked if everyone knew what Payback was–“payback’s a bitch motherfucker” (possibly the least original lyric in all of their catalog, but still fun to sing along to).

Then they returned to Seasons of the Abyss for three songs in a row!  “Temptation” was followed by “Born of Fire.”  And holy cow was there a lot of fire at this show.  I knew there would be fire, but even I wasn’t prepared for the amount or the heat of the fire (which I could easily feel from where I was).

There were jets of fire from above and below.  There was a little rotating gun that shot flames at different angle.  (It’s interesting how unreal the fire looks in these pictures–is it because it was not naturally occurring?).  At some point a fire ball shot off behind Tom’s head and it looked like it was shooting right on him (it wasn’t).  They even made an inverted cross of fire during “Disciple.”

“Seasons in the Abyss” is a slower song, perfect for letting everyone pace themselves.  There’s actually some very nice guitar playing in the beginning of the song (Kerry) while Gary plays the big loud chords.  And the chorus is strangely catchy (melodically, not lyrically:

But of course, the fire worked even better for “Hell Awaits.”  I was super excited to hear this old song and  I wondered if he would do the growling “Awaits!” part of the chorus.   But instead, they put a crazy effect on Tom’s voice which sounded even more demonic as the flames rose to the ceiling (my son, upon seeing these pictures did wonder how the whole place didn’t burn down, and I honestly don’t know).

From the time of “Temptation” it was all old songs to barrel us to the finish.  After “Hell Awaits” came the completely recognizable riff of “South of Heaven.”  And everyone went nuts during that slow opening before headbanging through to the end.

My brother-in-law Ben saw Slayer a couple years ago and sent us a picture of “Raining Blood.”  Naturally, I couldn’t wait to share my own video of the lacerated sky.  It was amazing how fast and heavy it was (those drums again).  Oh and the fire was just everywhere.

I rather assumed that this was the penultimate song (I knew “Angel of Death” ended the show), it seemed like a show ender.  So I was really surprised that they jumped back to the debut album one more time for “Black Magic.”  This might have been the very first Slayer song I’d heard back in 1983 and it was incredible to hear it live as a nice send off.

This picture to the left is one of my favorite, but the video of it is even cooler.

The set ended with an explosive “Angel of Death.”  I had heard that during Dave Lombardo’s tenure, the double bass drum “solo” could last for a full minute.  It did not last very long this time, but it was still cool.

When the show was over, Tom slowly walked around the stage absorbing all of the accolades–nearly 40 years of fandom in that room.  Of this moment, the Philadelphia Inquirer said “Slayer delivers one of the most poignant concert moments of the year at their final Philadelphia show”

Nobody wanted to leave (except me, I was exhausted).  Some guy came into my row and stood on the seat next to me blocking my exit.  I didn’t even see when Bostaph threw his drums stick and it landed in the aisle right next to us.  The guy next to me literally fell out of the seat trying to get it (he failed and also didn’t get hurt–alcohol is a good thing sometimes, I guess).

As I walked up the aisle, I saw that both Tom and Kerry were accepting the accolades, which was pretty sweet.  The only t hing that would have made it better was if Dave Lombardo was there to receive the applause too.  No disrespect to Bostaph–he is a truly amazing drummer, but it was Dave who did most of the drumming, and he would have been greatly appreciated too.

SLAYER!

Markit Aneight was there to record the full show, too

SETLIST

1. Delusions of Saviour [intro tape] ∞
2. Repentless ∞
3. Evil Has No Boundaries Ψ
4. World Painted Blood ϖ
5. Postmortem ®
6. Hate Worldwide ϖ
7. War Ensemble ∇
8. Gemini Û
9. Disciple ⇓
10. Mandatory Suicide ↵
11. Chemical Warfare †
12. Payback ⇓
13. Temptation ∇
14. Born of Fire ∇
15. Seasons in the Abyss ∇
16. Hell Awaits Θ
17. South of Heaven ↵
18. Raining Blood ®
19. Black Magic Ψ
20. Dead Skin Mask ∇
21. Angel of Death ®

Despite the fact that this was a venue only poster, there was no way I would ever hang it on my wall, so I saved myself $40.

Ψ = Show No Mercy (1983)
† = Haunting the Chapel EP (1984)
Θ = Hell Awaits (1985)
® = Reign in Blood (1986)
↵ = South of Heaven (1988)
∇ = Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
Û = Undisputed Attitude (1996)
⇓ = God Hates Us All (2001)
ϖ = World Painted Blood (2009)
∞ = Repentless (2015)