Slayer kicks off their North American tour in Las Vegas!

The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas Presents SLAYER, October 25, 2013

Slayer kicked off the first night of their North American tour to a packed, fist waving, horn throwing crowd in Las Vegas, starting on an “Old School” Slayer world tour that at least for the Vegas show included many classic tracks from the band extensive repertoire. The night got under way with “World Painted Blood” and was heavy representing the early years with “Haunting the Chapel”, “Hell Awaits”, “South of Heaven” and “Reign in Blood”, and hit on several songs that haven’t been played live in half a decade or more including “Necrophiliac”, “Captor of Sin”, and “Threshold”. The crowd joined in the anthemic “At Dawn they Sleep”, chanting “Kill!! Kill!” along with vocalist Tom Araya as the show intensified early in the game, and the pace kept up throughout Slayer’s 19 song set.

Guitarist Gary Holt (Exodus) has been touring with Slayer the last few years in lieu of original guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s ongoing medical problems, and this is the first Slayer tour since Hanneman’s death earlier this year. The band paid tribute the guitarist with a huge backdrop and video compilation during the set, with Araya’s “live peacefully and love one another” mantra (a concept somewhat ironic with the ‘raining blood’ themes the band evokes) felt throughout the room nonetheless as fans cheered and brought the house down to honor Hanneman’s memory.

In addition to Araya and Holt on stage founding guitarist Kerry King ripped and shredded and new drummer Paul Bostaph (replacing Dave Lombardo, to some fan’s dismay) pounded out the encore’s final “Angel of Death” before the night came to a crashing and crowd frenzied end.

Slayer will continue the tour through North America until the end of November, and you can get tour info and news at http://www.slayer.net/us/home

Slayer | October 25, 2013
The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel Casino | Las Vegas
©Jo Anna Jackson | www.StarDogPhotos.com

Vegas Setlist

“World Painted Blood”
“Necrophiliac”
“At Dawn They Sleep”
“Mandatory Suicide”
“Captor of Sin”
“War Ensemble”
“Disciple”
“Threshold”
“Postmortem”
“Altar of Sacrifice”
“Jesus Saves”
“Seasons in the Abyss”
“Hallowed Point”
“Dead Skin Mask”
“Raining Blood”
“Black Magic”
“Hate Worldwide”

Encore:
“South of Heaven”
“Angel of Death”