One of the greatest thrash metal bands in history, SLAYER, played their first show in five years on Sunday night (September 22) at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois. The band took the stage shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time.
Five years after playing what was billed as the band's final farewell tour show, and just weeks after SLAYER guitarist Kerry King revealed details of his solo project, Kerry and his bandmates announced they would be playing at the Aftershock, Riot Fest, and Louder Than Life festivals.
Slayer has its second performance scheduled for the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27, followed by a performance at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California, on October 10.
The lineup for SLAYER's return is the same as their last tour in 2019: King and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya , along with guitarist Gary Holt (also from EXODUS ) and drummer Paul Bostaph .
The band performed a 20-song set that included “South Of Heaven”, “Seasons In The Abyss”, “Angel Of Death”, “Hell Awaits”, “Raining Blood”, and the title track from SLAYER's latest album, Repentless . See the full setlist (via setlist.fm ):
SLAYER: Douglass Park, Chicago
- South of Heaven
- Reborn (performed live for the first time since 2014)
- Blood Red
- Postmortem
- Repentless
- Payback
- Temptation
- Jihad
- Seasons in the Abyss
- Born Of Fire
- War Ensemble
- Hate Worldwide
- Disciple
- Dead Skin Mask
- Hell Awaits
- 213 (played live for the first time since 1998)
- Mandatory Suicide
- Raining Blood
- Black Magic
- Angel of Death
Check out videos filmed by fans:
Kerry King talks about the return of Slayer.
In a recent interview with Nikki Blakk of San Francisco's Bay Area radio station 107.7 The Bone , King commented on SLAYER's comeback show: “There are things you've seen before and things you haven't seen. It's definitely the biggest SLAYER show I've ever seen on paper.”
Kerry went on to say that while he “enjoyed” the production of SLAYER’s farewell tour in 2018 and 2019, “this one is even bigger. But we’re headlining massive festivals, so we really need to show up.”
When asked how he would choose the setlist for the reunion shows, Kerry replied: “I think I already know which one. It’s difficult. I worked on it – I probably did three or four different ones before arriving at the one I sent to everyone.”
READ ALSO: Slayer: Kerry King states “we never said we were done playing”