Watch footage of Slayer’s highly anticipated Riot Fest headline set – their first show in five years
Thrash metal legends Slayer played their first concert in five years on Sunday (22 September) with a hit-packed set at Chicago’s Riot Fest. And as you’d expect, fan-filmed footage of the event has been posted online aplenty.
The band, who previously retired in 2019, returned to the stage for the festival’s headline slot, where they played 20 songs, including both hits and surprise deep cuts alike.
READ MORE: “It wasn’t bad blood. Tom was just done”: Kerry King on why Slayer called it quits
The setlist leant heavily on the classics, with half the tracks played coming from their two most celebrated albums, 1986’s Reign in Blood and 1990’s Seasons in the Abyss. 1988 anthem South of Heaven kickstarted the show, followed by Reign rarity Reborn, played for the first time since 2014. The band later shuffled even deeper behind the sofa and pulled out 213, from divisive 1994 album Divine Intervention, for the first time in 25 years.
Of course, such a setlist means there were plenty of stellar guitar moments. Guitarists Kerry King and Gary Holt exchanged solos all night, separated by duelling harmonies and a smorgasbord of chugging riffs. Raining Blood, Black Magic, Seasons in the Abyss, Dead Skin Mask and Angel of Death – each with their iconic guitar parts most metal fans have etched in their heads – all got busted out.
And it’s Slayer, so such a show wouldn’t be complete without a strong dose of hell-inspired visuals. As such, the band used their trusted fireball pyro, inverted crosses, amps stacked like inverted crosses, and other evil imagery to make the show a true spectacle.
Slayer formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo. The band quickly became figureheads of the burgeoning thrash metal movement and, with the release of Reign in Blood, started courting mainstream controversy. Many critics took exception to their lyrical emphasis on blasphemy, serial killers and, on the song Angel of Death, the experiments of Nazi scientist Josef Mengele.
Hanneman died of liver failure in 2013 and was replaced by Exodus guitarist Gary Holt, while Lombardo’s role behind the kit has been taken by Paul Bostaph. Slayer’s retirement five years ago came at the end of an extensive world tour, with the decision to hang up their guitars and spiky gauntlets later attributed to Araya not enjoying the touring lifestyle. Their return gig will be followed by two more festival performances: Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27 and Aftershock in Sacramento, California, on October 10.
Find out more about Slayer’s upcoming shows at slayer.net.
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