Slayer’s 35-year reign in blood appears to be coming to an end.
The iconic Bay Area thrash band announced its goodbye world tour on Monday, and Vancouver gets its final postmortem at the PNE Forum on Wednesday, May 16. Tickets go on sale for the all-ages gig at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 26 via Live Nation.
The support acts for the tour include Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament. The town of Penticton also gets the hell awaits treatment on May 17.
“Slayer announces that it will do one last concert tour around the globe to thank their fans for all of their support over the years, for making the last three-and-a-half decades so packed with good times and unforgettable experiences, and will then move on,” said a statement issued by the band Tuesday.
Founded in Huntington Beach, Calif. in the early ’80s, Slayer’s first album, Show No Mercy, was released in 1983. Alongside Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax, Slayer is grouped in with the “Big 4,” a collective of American thrash bands credited with creating and perfecting the genre.
The band’s 1986 offering, Reign in Blood, is routinely cited in polls as the greatest thrash album of all time, along with Metallica’s Master of Puppets.
While Metallica and Megadeth opted for a more mainstream approach during metal’s lean years in the early ’90s, Slayer remained Slayer.
All in, the band has released 12 studio albums, played more than 3,000 shows and won two Grammy awards. There are smatterings of gold records throughout the discography and there’s even an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute devoted to all things south of heaven.
Tickets for the show will cost $77 plus service charges.
“The age of Slayer, one of the greatest thrash/ metal/punk bands of this or any age, is coming to an end,” said the band's statement.
@JohnKurucz
