Slayer & Gojira Deliver Scorching Show At Sold-Out Hollywood Palladium

By Andrew Bansal
[Live photos by Brad Worsham] 

October 28th 2013, The Palladium, Hollywood CA: Heavy metal legends Slayer have embarked upon a North American tour, the first proper headline run of their own in a long, long time. They’ve gone through some trying times of late with the death of guitarist Jeff Hanneman and parting ways with drummer Dave Lombardo, and amidst the divided opinions of the fans, they decided that the best way to silence everybody and restore pride is to do what they’re best at: playing shows. On this tour, they’re taking with them French extreme metal juggernaut Gojira and Australian groove/thrash band 4Arm as support acts, in an attempt to give the fans something memorable. The tour began in Las Vegas and descended to Los Angeles, marking Slayer’s first appearance at the Hollywood Palladium in 25 years with two shows. I managed to attend the second of these shows last night, and while I was cautious about what to expect from a Slayer lineup devoid of Dave Lombardo, I was half-expecting this evening to be a special treat.

I showed up quite early due to my on-site interview with Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier, and as a result I got the opportunity to absorb the vibe. At 4:45 PM, the queue of people waiting to get in was already sizable. Slayer shirts and denim vests were seen in every direction as people flocked in towards the Palladium. The center of the marquee simply boasted of the word Slayer, an epic sight in itself. The bootleg shirt sellers were having a field day trying to sell Slayer shirts to people in this crowd. It was hilarious to note that they began at $20 as their price but within a few minutes had to bring it down to $5 to make any kind of sale. The tension and anticipation amongst people waiting for this show was rising every minute, and so was the length of the queue. Doors opened at around 6:45 and shouts of ‘Slayer!’ echoed around Sunset Boulevard as everyone headed in for the show.

4Arm began their set at 7:30, and having never seen this band or heard of their music before, I approached their set a completely open mind. But unfortunately, this band from Melbourne, Australia turned out to be nothing more than a Slayer rip-off. Their music had an unmistakable resemblance to Slayer and it was a big turn-off, at least for me personally, because the last thing I’d want to see at a Slayer show is an opening band that sounds exactly like them. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some really great opening acts in recent times, bands that stood out and brought something new or unique to the show as compared to their headliners, but 4Arm certainly doesn’t fall into this category. I might have enjoyed them a little more in a different setting, where they weren’t an opening act for Slayer. Viewing their set purely on its own, it wasn’t bad and it did get a small portion of the crowd excited, but in all honesty they didn’t add anything positive to the show.

The atmosphere inside this giant, packed room was about to intensify tenfold, as Gojira were getting ready to take the stage. Despite the fact that they’ve toured the States in the recent past, the last time I saw this incredible band from the French city of Bayonne, it was May of 2009 at the Key Club where they did a headline show. Hardly anybody in the States knew of the band back then, and just looking at the distance they’ve traveled since then as a band, both literally and in terms of their success and popularity, I feel fortunate to have witnessed them at that stage of their career. So, this Gojira set at the Palladium was a long-awaited one for me, and I’m glad to announce that they didn’t let me down. Their 45-minute set was compellingly brutal, to say the least. The song ‘Heaviest Matter Of The Universe’ was part of the set, and its title perfectly sums up Gojira’s live performance because they really did sound like the heaviest thing in the universe. I’ve honestly never seen a band employ the use of pinch harmonics and hammer-ons in guitar playing as effectively as Joe Duplantier and Christian Andreu do in Gojira. Bassist Jean-Michael Labadie had a prominent role in determining the sheer force of the band’s sound, and drummer Mario Duplantier’s work behind the kit was just exemplary. Of course, a few songs off of the latest album ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ were played, and I must say my appreciation of the album has grown after seeing those songs performed live.

The real highlights of the set though were the tunes ‘Flying Whales’ and ‘Toxic Garbage Island’, and I was fascinated by how well the band was able to translate the level of impact the same tunes had on us at that Key Club show, onto an audience and a venue much, much bigger in size last night, specially with the strength of Joe’s vocals.. The band’s collective on-stage energy was just as great as I remember it from that 2009 show. My only gripe with their set was the absence of the song ‘Oroborus’ which is perhaps one of their best songs, but aside from that, Gojira delivered an absolutely fantastic performance. For any band to be main support to Slayer is an unenviable task in many ways, but Gojira handled it perfectly and swept this crowd off its feet. Modern day extreme metal is largely devoid of any real expression, but Gojira is a glorious exception to that norm, presenting a very emotive, depressing yet still crushingly heavy brand of extreme metal.

Related: Audio Interview With Gojira Frontman Joe Duplantier

Gojira ended promptly at 9, and a huge curtain engulfed the stage as Slayer‘s road crew prepared the stage for the band to unleash a 90-minute onslaught on this very eager crowd. At 9:30, the lights went out and the intro track off of the latest album ‘World Painted Blood’ started rolling loud and clear on the PA, with the Slayer logo being projected onto the curtain. The collective roar of these fans was reaching deafening levels. These people were absolutely ready for Slayer. I was perched in the balcony looking down upon the packed general admission floor, and the moment right before Slayer appeared on stage was a sight to behold. Even though I go to a ridiculously large number of shows, it’s moments like these that still excite me and always will.

Slayer began their set with the World Painted Blood title track, so it was already clear that they changed things up from the ‘old-school’ set they did the previous night. Comparing the 19-song set lists from the two nights, last night’s show had six song changes, but in my opinion it so wasn’t drastically different to the extent that people who paid for Monday’s show would feel ‘ripped off’. It was a more well-rounded Slayer set, and for me that wasn’t a bad thing at all, as I wouldn’t want them to get sucked into becoming a nostalgia act like so many other bands of their stature do these days. Let’s face it, they’re Slayer, and not Metallica where most fans love the old albums and hate the new ones. Songs off of albums such as God Hates Us All and World Painted Blood still hold up amongst the early Slayer material, in the live setting at least, and last night was another proof of it.

With that said, there was a hefty dose of old-school Slayer, with plenty of tunes from a combination of the Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits, Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss albums, and this crowd loved every minute of it. The view from the balcony with the huge mosh pits and waves of crowd surfers going down on the floor was breathtaking, in every sense of the word. The most pleasant surprise of this set was a cover of Exodus’ ‘Strike Of The Beast’, as Exodus fans found themselves going nuts with uncontrollable delight. Slayer covering Exodus? Now that’s what I call special.

This set moved from strength to strength, and there not a single dull moment to be had. They closed it out as strongly as they started it, with the four-pronged assault of ‘Raining Blood, ‘Black Magic’, ‘South Of Heaven’ and ‘Angel Of Death’, appeasing every Slayer fan in the house. Granted, some people will complain that it wasn’t the same set as Sunday night, but from a reviewer’s point of view judging this show by itself, I can’t find any flaws in it. Performance-wise, Tom Araya showed that he still has what it takes vocally and on bass, and despite his obvious lack of ability to head-bang because of physical ailments, his friends Kerry King and Gary Holt on guitars more than made up for it with some epic head-banging of their own, while they nailed every riff and solo on their instruments. Not hearing Lombardo’s drumming was certainly strange for me. It’s something I never brought myself to imagine while Dave was in the band, but Paul Bostaph did a mighty fine job behind the kit and he ensured that the band’s live drum sound didn’t drop. The stage production added further menace to the show, with inverted crosses suspended either side of Bostaph’s drumkit.

For a long time, Slayer have carried the reputation of being one of the best live metal bands out there, as they proved in the recent past by blowing aside and overshadowing their fellow ‘Big Four’ bands, and based on last night I have to say their live performance still carries the same level of impact on its audience. The lineup changes will take longtime fans some getting used to, but they can rest assured that Slayer still delivers live.

Related Links:
Interview: In Conversation With Slayer Frontman Tom Araya
Audio Interview With Gojira Frontman Joe Duplantier

Set List:
1. World Painted Blood
2. Necrophiliac
3. At Dawn They Sleep
4. Mandatory Suicide
5. Captor of Sin
6. War Ensemble
7. Die By The Sword
8. Postmortem
9. Disciple
10.Payback
11.Dittohead
12.Seasons in the Abyss
13.Strike of the Beast (Exodus cover)
14.Hate Worldwide
15.Dead Skin Mask
16.Raining Blood
17.Black Magic
Encore:
18.South of Heaven
19.Angel of Death

Check out more photos from the show by Brad Worsham:

Remaining Tour Dates:

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