Following 2019’s extensive The Farewell Campaign tour, last night Slayer returned to the stage for their first show since.
The thrash legends – completed by Tom Araya, Kerry King, Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph – headed to Douglass Park in Chicago with the likes of Fall Out Boy, The Offspring, Sum 41, NOFX, Taking Back Sunday and Cypress Hill for this year’s killer edition of Riot Fest, marking their first time onstage together in five years.
And as well as all their heavy classics, as you can see from the photos below Slayer also brought the fire for a spectacular-looking festival-closing show. After this they’ve got two more gigs in the calendar – at Louder Than Life and Aftershock – and then we just have to wait patiently to see if there’s anything else to come.
At the very least, Kerry will absolutely stay out on the road with his recently-launched solo project. “Was it inevitable that I would find myself back onstage?” he pondered to Kerrang! earlier this year. “Absolutely. Before Tom told me that he didn’t want to do this anymore, I’d never really thought about setting out to do something ‘solo’. But as soon as he did, I realised that I still had that desire to play, to create, to entertain.”
Swipe below to see the full Slayer gallery from Riot Fest.