In a new chat with Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco Bay Area radio station 107.7 The Bone, Kerry King said he will decide the setlist for Slayer’s reunion concerts.
“I think I’ve already got it. It’s tough. I worked on it — I probably made, like, three or four different ones before I landed on the one that I sent to everybody,” the guitarist said when asked how he’ll pick the setlist for the shows.
“That’s fair [to say]. There’s definitely a few songs I still have to learn, so… [‘Cause] I haven’t played [them] in a while,” King replied when further asked if the setlist will mix popular songs with a few surprises.
In a June talk with Q104.3, Kerry was asked why Slayer is reuniting for shows five years after their farewell tour. He shared the real reason for the reunion and said, “I’ll put it in the perspective everybody can understand. We’ve been turning down offers since beginning of 2020, pandemic and all.”
He continued, “And then it started getting near the five-year anniversary of us stopping playing, so I’m, like, ‘You know what? This is a three-show package. I think it would be fun to do.’ It’s kind of a five-year anniversary of our last tour.”
“We’re never gonna tour again — it ain’t gonna happen,” the rocker also talked about their future plans. “We’re never gonna record again; that’s not gonna happen either. But to do commemorative shows, I think that’s kind of fun. I don’t have to be married to it for a long time.”
King added, “Kids don’t have to worry about it coming around on tour because we said we wouldn’t. There’s not a whole lot of weird diabolical sh*t going on here. I think people have just gotta say, ‘Hey, it’s anniversary celebration shows.’ That’s gonna be the end of it.”
Slayer will perform on September 22 at Riot Fest, and then on September 27 at Louder Than Life. The band will also play a show on October 10 at Aftershock.