Slayer at the Fillmore

Slayyyyyerrrrrr!

Jan. 31- Denver, Colorado- So the other night I went to see Slayer on a lark, at the Fillmore. I'm not the biggest Slayer fan, but I've always dug their "South of Heaven" and "Seasons in the Abyss" albums. I never really understood the cult sensation of the band, either. You can drive by any loading dock or Grease Monkey, yell "Slayer" and you'd get a hearty response of "Slayyyyerrrrrrrr!" from the employees. In that regard, Slayer ranks right up there with Pantera as one of the cult bands universally loved by white burnouts, drunks, losers and owners of tattoo parlors.

They were booked at the Fillmore in what looked to be a sold-out show. The show also included about FOUR opening bands-- a few local acts along with Unearth and Cephalic Carnage. I believe Bloody Fetus or Pus-Filled Bunyons may have been on there, too. So instead of subjecting ourselves to the "burtal, unrelenting assault of their colon-demolishing riffs of destruction"...we hung out across the street at Sancho's Broken Arrow. It's a Grateful Dead bar and apparently the favorite "meet us there" joint of everybody who goes to a show at the Fillmore. Every 20 minutes, some inebbriated guy at the bar would look up and yell "Slayyyyyerrrrrr!". The locals joined in.

We made it in to the Fillmore right as Slayer hit the stage. They busted through all of their usual staples, like "Chemical Warfare", "Die by the Sword" and "War Ensemble". Considering I hadn't really followed the band since 1992 or so, I was a little surprised that I recognized much of the set. Then, when singer Tom Araya introduced "Mandatory Suicide" and dedicated it to "all of our guys over in Iraq", I knew why the show was familiar-- they were doing the same exact gig they had recorded for 1991's "Decade of Agression" live album. 16 years later and they're still doing the same shit? At least KISS would mix up their setlist or come up with something NEW to say to the crowd.

It was essentially the same as sitting in the room and listening to a CD. They didn't have much of a stageshow or interaction with the crowd, so it was quite lame. Kerry King's a decent guitar player and it's funny to see some bald, tattooed fat dude playing the guitar for a few minutes. But for over an hour, it gets boring. They mixed in one new song, a track called "Cult". It's an anti-religion tune and stood out simply because it WASN'T 15 YEARS OLD. It might be worth spending 99 cents on iTunes, but did little to justify a $40 concert ticket.

At one point, we made our way to the right flank of the stage and got a good close-up of the band. Crap, did they look OLD. Lead throat/bassist Tom Araya still has long hair and a beard...but it's gray and makes him look somewhat like David Allan Coe. So we discovered that it's best to see Slayer from a distance. From about 100 feet away, they look identical to 1991... up close, it's like viewing the geriatric cast of Bubba Ho-tep. Complete with the big bitch cockroaches and mummies.

The second half of the show wound down with "South of Heaven", "Raining Blood", "Dead Skin Mask", "Seasons in the Abyss" and "Silent Scream". At that point, the band said goodnight...and left without doing an encore. That had to be a first for me. We joked that the band was simply backstage waiting for the "Fan-o-meter" to reach a certain level. But after two minutes we realized that the show was indeed finished. We also surmised that they had played everything we expected, and simply didn't have any songs left that they could have encored with. I could see the place going nuts for an encore with "Raining Blood", but not a leftover tune. It left an empty, unsatisfied tastes in our mouths, though. Metal bands should never end their sets in time for fuckin' Jay Leno.

Concert lookalikes were around, of course. I saw a guy who looked Penn Jillette and a guy who looked like Zakk Wylde (without the arms, though). Also saw someone who looked like the Verizon Wireless Guy... yeah, the "Can You Hear Me Now" dweeb....at a Slayer concert. Funny. And yup, a Seven Foot Mutant Fucker stodd in front of me for about five minutes.

In conclusion, it was a mediocre show, even settling into "below average" territory. There didn't seem to be alot of emotion or excitement on stage, just guys playing music and adding next to nothing. If I had seen Slayer before, I would have been completley torqued off. I can't reiterate it enough, but it was like sitting at home listening to a CD. Well, listening to a CD in a big garage with 4,000 of your stinkiest, drunkest, shirtless, lit-up friends...who all had to be at Grease Monkey at 8am the next morning.

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