I saw Slayer for the first time on June 23rd, 1991 on the Clash of the Titans tour. That show was at a now defunct outdoor venue in northern Michigan and had an insane lineup that also included Anthrax, Megadeth and a brand new band called Alice In Chains opening. (I thought Anthrax stole the show.) If August 7th, 2018 is truly the last time I see Slayer, it will have been with another epic lineup. This time around Slayer was joined by Lamb of God, Anthrax (again), Testament and Napalm Death. There are metal festivals with less impressive rosters.
The show was at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids, a venue that would have seemed wildly inappropriate a decade ago. On this farewell tour, Slayer has been selling out much bigger places than this. While it wasn't completely packed, I would guess that at least 8,000 of the 11,000 seats were full. I also enjoyed the irony of a bunch of “Satanic" metal bands playing in an arena built by a very devout and conservative man. The Amway founder and early pyramid scheme proponent was likely spinning in his grave.
I was a little surprised how excited I found myself getting about this show. I’d seen all the bands involved multiple times, more than ten times each for Slayer and Anthrax. Still, my sense of anticipation was very high. I think it was tapping into my memory and amazement of the first thrash shows I went to in the late ‘80s. Those shows had a real electricity, a genuine sense of danger. Or maybe I was remembering the wonder of my first arena shows. They were not regular occurrences and always felt like a big deal.
Because of the massive lineup, the show was scheduled to start at 5pm. I didn’t even bother going home after work, I just headed straight downtown. I parked on the street, hiked a few blocks, got through the metal detectors, bought an expensive bottle of water, and was in my seat by 4:45. I didn’t want to miss a minute of Napalm Death. They came on promptly at 5pm, and at that point the arena was maybe ¼ full. They played in front of a simple backdrop bearing their name. Most of the stage was blocked off, so they were relegated to only the front portion.
The crowd didn’t seem to know how to respond to Napalm Death. It was kind of funny really. I’m not sure they knew what to make of their anarcho peace punk message either, but their notion of “equality and dignity for all human beings” seemed to be well received. The grindcore pioneers played favorites like “Suffer the Children” and “Scum”, and closed with their nearly unrecognizable version of the Dead Kennedys classic “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”. I enjoyed it, but it was hard to get overly engaged from the comfort of my pretty decent $50 seat. Extreme metal is ill fitted for an arena, but they made the most of their half hour.
By the time Testament came on at about 5:50, the place was ½ full. They had a bigger Brotherhood of the Snake backdrop, and a slightly more elaborate stage setup. They thrashed their way through a 40 minutes of mostly vintage material including “The Preacher”, “Practice What You Preach”and “Over the Wall”. Chuck Billy played air guitar during instrumental passages on his billy club length mic stand. Alex Skolnick got plenty of time in the spotlight with his dazzling solos. “Into the Pit” inspired the biggest circle pit of the night to that point. I was still seated so I continued to struggle to really engage, but overall it was pretty great. Testament’s setlist: Brotherhood of the Snake, Rise Up, Dog Faced Gods, The Preacher, Practice What You Preach, The New Order, Into the Pit, Over the Wall.
It didn’t take Anthrax long to surpass Testament’s circle pit size. They took the stage about 6:50 playing the instrumental beginning of Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell”, an obvious tribute to the recently deceased Vinnie Paul. Then they launched directly into one of the best thrash songs of all time, “Caught in a Mosh”. Their pentagram laden For All Kings themed stage design was really cool. Anthrax always puts on an energetic live show behind ageless singer Joey Belladonna, iconic guitarist Scott Ian and legendary drummer Charlie Benante. Most of the people in the stands were on their feet by now, and the crowd was really starting to get into it.
When I saw them in 1991, Belladonna donned a full headdress when they played “Indians”. I was surprised they played it at all in 2018, but this time Belladonna wore a metal knight’s helmet. It may have been spontaneous, because Benante’s surprised laughter seemed genuine. The ‘Wardance’ pit was the biggest one yet. Anthrax’s 45 minute set was electrifying, and once again threatened to steal the show. Anthrax’s setlist: Cowboys From Hell (instrumental intro), Caught in a Mosh, Got the Time, Madhouse, Be All End All, Evil Twin, Antisocial, Indians, Cowboys From Hell (instrumental outro).
I’m not really into Lamb of God. It’s nothing personal, they’re just not for me. I intended to spend their set checking out the merch, but I saw enough on my way in. $40 - $45 T-shirts, $20 patch sets, and a bunch of other crap I didn’t need. No thanks. LoG came on about 8:00 and had a cool looking stage with chrome risers that went all the way up to the drums. I know that Lamb of God is one of the most important metal bands of the 2000s, but they’re just not my thing. Most people loved their 50 minute set.
The stage was hidden while Slayer set up. You could smell the anticipation (and cannabis) in the air. The moment of truth finally came about 9:20. The curtain dropped and their were four giant crosses. As the band started playing instrumental opener “Delusions of Saviour”, the crosses inverted. The crowd went wild. This led right into “Repentless”. These two, and “When the Stillness Comes” later on, were the only songs from the most recent record, 2015’s Repentless. Most of the setlist was crowd pleasing, late ‘80s/early ‘90s material, but there were a handful of newer tunes too. The pit was now as wide as the hockey rink itself.
The stage production was unprecedented, for Slayer at least. There were giant backdrops that looked one way when lit up, and like stained glass with the lights out. There were plenty of pentagrams, obviously, and plenty of fire too. My favorite thing was probably the Slayer war eagle statues. They’ve always been a band of few words, and they mostly just kept their heads down and jammed. Bassist/vocalist Tom Araya looked shockingly good. Gone was the huge gray Santa beard that we’ve grown accustomed to. He looked as young and fit as he has in years. Guitarist Kerry King pretty much looked the same as ever, with the addition of a long, braided beard that reached nearly to his belt.
Non founding members Guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Paul Bostaph were both very business like. They seemed to handle the sometimes insanely fast songs with relative ease. A lot of people complained that this really wasn’t Slayer. Founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman is dead. He’s not coming back. Holt (of Exodus fame) is a worthy replacement. I wish they could have buried the hatchet with original drummer Dave Lombardo, but there’s just too much bad blood. Bostaph played on several Slayer albums, and was the obvious, capable second choice. On this night at least, these four guys were definitely Slayer.
No one was going to upstage Slayer either. For 20 songs and nearly an hour and a half, they had the audience’s absolute attention. Despite how long of a night it was, very few people left early. (I was there for six hours.) The back end of the set was loaded with classics. “Angel of Death” was last and served as a tribute to their fallen friend. It was played in front of a green Heineken inspired backdrop that read “Hanneman 1964 - 2013 Still Reigning”. It came at the end of what was almost an idealized Slayer show full of great songs, awesome visuals and amazing performances. (My only regret is that they didn’t play “Die By the Sword” or “Gemini”.)
The guys from Slayer are now in their mid 50s. The music they play is very physically demanding. It’s good to see them go out on their own terms, while they can still perform at an extremely high level. When it was all over, Araya put down his bass and approached the single microphone at the front of the stage. His final words were, “Thank you so much…..for everything.” There was no joining arms and taking a bow, or any other unnecessary pomp and circumstance. They lingered for a couple extra minutes to soak in the crowd’s adoration, then simply walked off the stage. If this is truly the end of Slayer, it was a hell of a victory lap.
Slayer setlist: Delusions of Saviour, Blood Red, Disciple, Mandatory Suicide, Hate Worldwide, War Ensemble, Jihad, When the Stillness Comes, Postmortem, Black Magic, Payback, Seasons in the Abyss, Dittohead, Dead Skin Mask, Hell Awaits, South of Heaven, Raining Blood, Chemical Warfare, Angel of Death.