Been Slayed.
The year 2012 has been a treat for Indian metalheads. Having already featured Opeth, Lamb of God, Kreator, Megadeth, Korn, the country was gearing up for the best week of their lives, starting with Children of Bodom and ending with the almighty Slayer.
With the recent death of Palace Grounds, one had to treck all the way to Thippasandra, in albeit what has been Bangalore’s best weather this year. Post the cacophony of trucks and bus horns, emerged an excellent venue with the horizon of trees and grey skies and the soundtrack of Black Sabbath. The black batalion of Slayer fans waited in agony at the parking lot whilst tanking up and gearing up with some of their good old thrash.
After the routine of queues, frisking and more queues, we were finally unleashed into the Rock ‘n India arena at around 3 pm. Impatience grew as a very mixed playlist of metal and pop rock played until Inner Sanctum finally exploded on the PA, pumping the crowd up with their energetic and thrilling set. Fans warmed their necks up and tested the waters with some insane moshing.
Sadly, the excitement level dropped as Brahma took on the stage. Fans flocked out towards the bars and loos, while the ones that stayed greeted the band with many middle fingers. While Brahma put on a pretty decent show, many fans agreed that they weren’t the right band to preceed the thrash gods. No musician should be met with such a hostile audience and this only goes to prove that while DNA Networks brings down the most wanted musicians, they know very little about the scene at home.
While everyone took a breather from the concert arena, the bars and stalls got crowded. The bars were selling alcohol at exorbitant club rates but you could buy a Rock n India Slayer tee for just 250 bucks. As usual, DNA Networks once again had ridiculous rules for water. You could buy mineral water for INR 50 but they gave it to you in 4 glasses, which you couldn’t carry into the concert arena. As the veteran concert goer will agree, dehydration and DNA go together.
The grey Slayer backdrop finally enslaved the stage and about 15 minutes later the lights went off. And as the crowd submerged in a million goosebumps, War Painted Blood took over the PA. Jaws dropped as they stood before us in the flesh. I was thrilled to see that Slayer, as promised at their press conference, had tweaked the set specially for their Indian fans and hoped it would include a major portion of their older more wicked numbers.
Before proceeding into the rest of their set, all Araya said was “Namaste.” Hell, we didn’t let him say any more and as the screams took over, War Ensemble began. While it would have been simply awesome to see Araya headbang, Kerry King made up with energy levels that were double and triple. Gary Holt could not have been a more perfect replacement for Jeff Hanneman and did complete justice to the set. Nonetheless, Dave Lambardo, stole the show with his crisp and effortless drum routines. It was simply a pleasure to watch the man in action.
We Indian fans are the luckiest; every artist that comes down plays us a special set. We were suprised to hear Chemical Warfare, Post-Mortem and Silent Scream – Slayer had made the long wait completely worth it. The entire set seemed like one intense orgasm, there wasn’t a dull moment and very little chatter, they just got right down to business. Angel of Death was tight as hell and from then on it was just non-stop waves of horns and hair with South of Heaven, Silent Scream, Dead Skin Mask and the much awaited Raining Blood. With horns and screams, we bid them adieu, and Tom Araya bid us goodbye, “Shukriya, mere doston.”
Minutes later, it began to rain and as the army of fans walked back to retire to their base camps, nobody could still believe it. We had watched Slayer live. And at no point could you imagine that these guys were in their 40s and had been playing for 30 years – their set still so tight, fresh and powerful.
And after every show in Bangalore, we must complain about the sound. It seemed to have been panned as we on the left only heard Gary Holt’s solos and our friends on the right only heard Kerry King. Regardless, the lighting was simply brilliant and we have to take this opportunity to thank DNA Networks and Vladivar for bringing us a few feet away from our Gods.
As we walked out, I overheard a fan say, “Ok now the world has permission to end in 60 days.”
I agree.
Setlist:
1. World Painted Blood
2. War Ensemble
3. Die By The Sword
4. Chemical Warfare
5. Hate Worldwide
6. Spirit In Black
7. Epidemic
8. Disciple
9. Mandatory Suicide
10. Altar of Sacrifice
11. Jesus Saves
12. Seasons in The Abyss
13. Hell Awaits
14. Postmortem
15. Snuff
16. Angel of Death
17. South of Heaven
18. Silent Scream
19. Dead Skin Mask
20. Raining Blood
