Slayer (1981-2019) Farewell Tour (2018–2019)

review by Jake Warkel- Hollywood Casino, Tinely Park, IL, USA

Photos by Frank White – Santander Arena, Reading PA, USA

Slayer is one of the heaviest and most influential thrash metal bands of all time. After nearly 40 years heavy metal band Slayer are saying farewell to their fans with one final tour! In their career Slayer have released 12 studio albums; four of them received gold certification in the United States. The band has also received five Grammy Award nominations, winning two of them for tracks ‘Eyes of the Insane’ and ‘Final Six’. It’s unfortunate that one of the Big four bands are actually calling it quits. Who would have thought.

Slayer is about to hit the stage and I loved how the band had two massive eagles with the band’s pentagram logo blazing in flames as a black curtain concealing the stage dropped to the floor. The band started their fast and furious set with the title track from their final album, Repentless, followed by old-school banger “Blood Red”. They still sound and look incredible and it’s still a privilege to see them perform.

It’s going to be tough knowing I will no longer be seeing Slayer live. No matter how many times I’ve seen them live I just can’t get enough. One real bummer is that ex-drummer Dave Lombardo is not part of this farewell tour.

Paul Bostaph’s double kick and ride work along with all his other drumming expertise was superb.

Tom Araya’s voice has always been extremely loud and aggressive, but with a distinctive defined, unparalleled style.

The band was clearly having a great time playing the show and how can you not. From “Hell Awaits” until the grand finale with the all-time classic “Angel of Death” it was an absolute chaos, the fans moshing, body surfing, thrashing around in the pit one last time with Slayer as well as those fans in the lawn making a bloody mess also going apeshit crazy moshing about on the hill.

King and Gary Holt were killing it with their melodic, iconic crunch all night. There was fire shooting in all directions before closing out their set with “Chemical Warfare” and “Angel of Death. I loved the big tribute too Hanneman with the big backdrop that paid respect to Jeff Hanneman. The place was non stop yelling screaming making all kinds of noise as Slayer said good night and were heading off the stage. This will be my last time seeing these legends, they were still the Slayer that I had come to love. If you’ve never seen Slayer your time is running out. I recommend you do so!

Farewell!!!

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The following setlist was performed at the first show of the tour at the Valley View Casino Center.

• 1. “Delusions of Saviour” (intro)
• 2. “Repentless”
• 3. “Blood Red”
• 4. “Disciple”
• 5. “Mandatory Suicide”
• 6. “Hate Worldwide”
• 7. “War Ensemble”
• 8. “Jihad”
• 9. “When the Stillness Comes”
• 10. “Postmortem”
• 11. “Black Magic”
• 12. “Payback”
• 13. “Seasons in the Abyss”
• 14. “Dittohead”
• 15. “Dead Skin Mask”
• 16. “Hell Awaits”
• 17. “South of Heaven”
• 18. “Raining Blood”
• 19. “Chemical Warfare”
• 20. “Angel of Death”

 

 

Slayer Photo Gallery

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The other bands that were on the bill

Anthrax

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Behemoth

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Lamb of God

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Testament

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