In a recent interview with 107.7 The Bone, Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph discussed the band’s two reunion performances earlier this fall — on September 22 at Riot Fest in Chicago, Illinois, and on October 10 at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California. “We played our last one,” the drummer said when asked if there will be more Slayer shows in the future. “If everybody’s asking that question [about the possibility of more Slayer gigs], I am too, but I don’t have the answer to that question. So, yeah, Aftershock was the last one. And we all hope that there will be more.”
He added: “It’s fun to play Slayer songs. So, hopefully that can happen in the future. But [as of right now], that was the last show.”
Five years after Slayer played the last concert of what was called the band’s farewell tour, and just weeks after guitarist Kerry King revealed details about his solo project, Kerry and his longtime bandmates announced that they would be playing at Aftershock, and Riot Fest.
Slayer was also set to perform at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27, but that show was canceled because of severe weather.
The thrash metal band played their first live show in almost five years on September 22. They got on stage just after 8:30 p.m. local time and played a 20-song set that included ‘South of Heaven,’ ‘Seasons in the Abyss,’ ‘Angel of Death,’ ‘Hell Awaits,’ ‘Raining Blood,’ and the title track of the final album, ‘Repentless.’
Fans loved the performances, as one user commented in a recent concert footage on YouTube, “Can’t believe they’re back!”
“The world is a better place with Slayer in it,” another added.
Although King insisted in June that Slayer wouldn’t return, the recent shows proved otherwise. The lineup for Slayer’s comeback is the same as the one that last toured in 2019: Kerry King, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, guitarist Gary Holt, and Bostaph.