It would have been a sad, sad day for metal fans everywhere had Slayer actually played their final concert ever last night. The legendary thrashers that had announced their retirement and the current tour as their last played a blistering set of metal classics to what looked like a sold-out crowd at the legendary Shark Tank in San Jose. It was the final date on their tour and one that Bay Area fans were both dreading and looking forward to.
The evening could easily be described as epic with concertgoers salivating at every guitar lick and adrenaline-driven scowl, trying to sink in every last drop of the iconic metal act before their last curtain fall.
Slayer playing what could be their final show ever at the SAP Center in San Jose.#slayer #sanjose #heavymetal #kerryking #tomaraya #MetalHead pic.twitter.com/aQ0eIsRkC5
— ⚡️⚡️ MUSICinSF ⚡️⚡️ (@sfmusicscene) August 27, 2018
The show was loud, the song selection made of thrash classics like “Angel of Death,” “Raining Blood” and “War Ensemble,” as well as more current songs like “Repentless.” To celebrate friends of the band and other OGs of the genre also showed up to pay homage. Anthrax, Testament, Napalm Death as well as newer generation thrash juggernaut Lamb of God, were all on the bill and tore up the stage in their own right.
It would have been a romantic way to go out. One last memorable show before slowly riding off into the sunset. Then this morning, in an interesting turn of events, a press release went out to announce that Slayer would actually keep going well into 2019.
According to the release that went out this morning, Slayer’s Kerry King said:
“We always knew this tour would take us into 2019, and we’ve been blown away by the response we’ve been getting here in North America. We’ve heard about fans who have driven five, six hours, or flown in from other cities or countries to see us, so we want to assure our fans that we’ll be on the road through 2019 and will get to as many places around the world as possible to make it easier for everyone to come and see us one last time.”
Slayer slaying the stage of the SAP center in San Jose.#slayer #SanJose #metal #thrash #final #heavymetal pic.twitter.com/3Ys3Pun9mp
— ⚡️⚡️ MUSICinSF ⚡️⚡️ (@sfmusicscene) August 27, 2018
As of today, it looks like plans are already underway for Slayer to take its Final World Tour to South America, Australia, and Japan in 2019. This has to be good news for Slayer fans everywhere, as it looks like these guys still have a little left in them after all.
In the meantime, check out some of our best photo selections from last night’s show below.
Photos by Louis Raphael
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