Slayer at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento

[SterileEyes1]

They sounded fucking excellent last night. Yeah yeah, “wahhh they played a farewell tour and lied to me!” Cool. Whatever. I paid to see a show and I got a great show. That’s how it works.

Tom’s voice in particular sounded amazing. Apparently retirement is good for the screaming voice. It was my first Slayer show in 20 years and Tom sounds better now. I highly doubt there was much if any trickery going on for him either. For speed metal at a big festival I was impressed by how clear, raw, and powerful the sound was.

I get that Jeff and Dave aren’t there and that the shows are for money. Gatekeepers are gonna gatekeep. A good show is a good show as far as I’m concerned. If you’re a fan and they play at a festival near you I recommend.

Pantera’s set was strong as usual as well. Even though the setlist is pretty much the same save one or two songs, it really is a massive difference seeing them headline vs. the sets opening for Metallica where their sound isn’t ideal and the crowd is sparse.

[Rocker4Real]

Notice any backing tracks?

[Sticky]

I was there last night. Slayer was great! And Halestorm got a great reaction from the crowd. But why does Pantera play every song so slow? They are literally slower than the original record. And all Phil kept talking about was how old he is, blah blah. I was less than impressed.

[SterileEyes1]

Notice any backing tracks?

I’m sort of conditioned to be suspicious of any band I see these days, and honestly, no. Tom does a lot of “yelling/scatting” that seemed quite varied. If he had any tracks going, maybe, it was for the Angel of Death scream or something. 99% of it was definitely live, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 100%.

I was at the festival last year and saw Avenged Sevenfold, Tool, and GN’R headline the same stage. This was by far the rawest and clearest sounding set.



Editing to add that I did my own little Wings of Pegasus-style investigation to finish up my work day. Here’s Angel Of Death from their first show back a couple weeks ago. Another epic blood-curdling scream, and it sure sounds different to my ears, I think it bends up slightly in pitch at one point compared to the one from last night.

If he’s pulling these off at the end of the set at 63 years of age, I’m really fucking impressed. Guessing he’s doing whatever steroid Dave Grohl likely does that both makes his neck huge and allows him to scream endlessly without ever losing his voice.

https://youtu.be/jHto8d-pk2Q?si=ybHpLmqt4cqLVzir

[skinni]

It's awesome to hear that Tom sounds great!

I hope they reunite a few more random shows in the years to come.

[Anthrax442]

I was there last night. Slayer was great! And Halestorm got a great reaction from the crowd. But why does Pantera play every song so slow? They are literally slower than the original record. And all Phil kept talking about was how old he is, blah blah. I was less than impressed.

Kerry specifically referenced how slow Phil is these days, as to why he wasn't chosen to sing for his solo band. Dunno if it's just age/burnout or all the years he's spent playing slower tempo stuff with Down, but clearly it's a known thing.

[Zabooka]

FULL SHOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDVVLghGWY8

[Borges]

FULL SHOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDVVLghGWY8

Pretty good. Interesting setlist, although very thin on the early stuff. 213 is a cool deep cut.

[HottKarl777]

The wrong son died.

[Psychobolia.com]

The wrong son died.

Huh? You mean guitarist?!