ROCK N ROLL EXPERIENCE - SLAYER/UNEARTH 2/19/07

Ok, so Slayer/Unearth were booked for 2 sold out shows at the 9:30 club in DC & I was fortunate enough to be able to cover night one on 2/19/07, which was President's Day, & when I got to the venue, there was a line that wrapped around the block waiting to get in & I ran into some media friends & acquantances while waiting for the show & I wanna make an interesting point about the crowd...I was expecting to see an older crowd since Slayer is an older band, BUT, there was ALOT of young kids in the crowd who were screaming SLAYER!!! right along side the older dude's & I thought that was the coolest thing ever, because there was basically like 3 generations of Slayer fans all combined & having a blast together!

Unearth opened the show at around 8:45 PM & their roughly 45 minute set included a good mix of old & new songs & I can't help but say it again, their guitarist with the shorter black hair, Ken...if you ever see this band live, don't take your eyes off him..he's crazy! He makes weird gestures like "the shocker", he invites girls to come onstage & kiss him, & he is like a mexican jumping bean..he's hyper as hell & REALLY entertaining to watch, because the band is playing really heavy, really serious METAL & Ken's just goofy!

I can't ignore the beer bong hits either that Ken & Buzz did onstage..this is an Unearth ritual & it's what adds a little frat boy-ish quality to the bands set...I might add that I've seen Unearth about 6 times now & the band is definitley at a pinacle in their career...power wise, they are totally there & they are somewhere in-between Slayer & Pantera, energy wise, & if you havn't seen Unearth in concert, you're totally missing out..these guy's kick ass & take no prisoners, PLUS, they have alot of fun doing what they do & there's not alot of bands out there that can hold a candle, energy or vibe wise to this band!

After Unearth's 45 minute set, there was almost an hour of down time between them & Slayer & It actually made me a little tired at times, but when Slayer took the stage, literally, all hell broke loose! I wanna say that it was actually kinda refreshing to go to a show & NOT have any smoking..in DC they passed the law that prohibits smoking in clubs, so there was no smoking! As a non-smoker, I like this because I hate breathing in smoke since I don't smoke...some will hate me for that comment, but that's my opinion!

Tom Araya & the boys took the stage under a cloud of thick fog & deep red lights...a bearded Araya looked more like the Uni-bomber than the anti-christ at the show...his beard is long & thick with white streaks in it & he almost looks like he was living in a cave! The guitarist in the band were clad in leather pants, Kerry sporting even more tatt's than the last time I saw him, while Araya had some new ink as well, & Henneman was sporting a football jersey & playing a new guitar that has what looked like a Heineken logo, but upon closer inspection is says Henneman!

Slayer played around an hour & a 1/2 & among the songs that really stood out were "Dead Skin Mask" which had an introduction of, "This is a love song about a guy named ED!", "War Ensemble" was played early in the set & was insane, "Angel of Death" closed the show, "Reign in Blood" closed the first set, "Cult" off the new CD was played & that was probably my favorite song of the night because it just felt really fresh & powerful in the set! The band played alot of new songs of the new cd "Christ Illusion" & as many times as I have seen Slayer, I don't think I ever remember seeing Tom Araya smile so much...he seemed like he was totally content & had found himself in some weird way..I remember seeing the band many years ago & he seemed so angry, but at this show he seemed really happy & he even commented that he could feel the love from the crowd, as he was flipping them the finger!

In 2007, Slayer are still the reigning kings of true metal, & it's amazing to see that through all the style changes in music, Slayer are still true to what they have always done..they are the AC/DC of death metal!

SLAYER'S Set List:

DISCIPLE

WAR ON ENSEMBLE

JIHAD

DIE BY THE SWORD

SHOW NO MERCY

CAPTOR

CULT

BLOODLINE

MANDATORY SUICIDE

SEASONS IN THE ABYSS

SUPREMIST

EYES OF THE INSANE

POSTMORTUM

SILENT SCREAM

DEAD SKIN MASK

RAINING BLOOD

SOUTH OF HEAVEN

ANGEL OF DEATH

RETURN TO MAIN PAGE.