As a self-proclaimed lifelong metal head, it seems inconceivable that up until last Friday (the day of the concert) I was considering not attending the Slayer show. For several years now I’ve had hard time getting excited over big production, major label concerts. One big reason is the expense; Slayer tickets were $35 each, for example. Another big turn off is my fellow concert goers. For every person at the show actually wanting to watch the band perform there seem to be a dozen morons in attendance there simply to get drunk or high, start fights, or simply act rowdy. You can pretty much count on a steady stream of people bumping into you, asking you for a smoke (even if you don’t), or spilling beer on you — and quite often you’ll get to experience all three from the same person. As the years go by, it becomes more and more tempting to skip the concert and pick up the inevitable DVD release of the show a few months later. (Slayer’s “Reign in Blood: Still Reigning” DVD sells for $15 on Amazon.com, and their “War at the Warfield” DVD sells for $18. That’s two concerts for $33 (less than the price of a concert ticket) that I can watch in comfort of my own home without having anyone spill a beer on me.)

But the thing is, it’s SLAYER; and not only is it Slayer, this is original line-up Slayer, with Lombardo back on drums. It’s a show no headbanger can miss without coming up with a pretty good excuse (“I was dead.”) Once or twice a year I get talked into attending a big-to-do show, so I try to make sure the ones I attend count. I almost always have fun, as I did last night. It’s kind of hard to keep referring to yourself as “the music guy” to your friends and coworkers without attending a concert every now and then. Even though I was on the fence about attending the show, a couple of my work friends managed to talk me into heading out on a cold Friday night with ice still covering much of the downtown sidewalks. Our group of four set out to witness one of the most infamous heavy bands of all time — Slayer.

Despite being a 33-year-old computer network engineer, I left the house wearing a black shirt, cargo shorts, combat boots and a baseball cap. It’s a uniform of sorts; well, all except the baseball cap, which was simply intended to hide my graying, business-like haircut. While the hat worked, the cargo shorts really didn’t — with both the Hornets and the Blazers both playing home games Friday night, all the usual $5 parking lots had been bumped up to $10, and were sold out. I rode to the concert with my friend Emily, and we ended up parking over a mile away from the venue. Halfway between our parking lot and the venue was Chilenos, where we met up with two other friends, Paula and K. After Tecates were downed and nachos were consumed, we continued our walk to the venue.

Upon reaching the Bricktown Event Center we were met with a small sign that read, “Sold Out.” K and Paula had reserved tickets but Emily and I did not. Fortunately for us, K has “connections in the industry” so-to-speak and after some finagling, we ended up with two more tickets. Do not ask how K works his magic; just know that he is cooler than all of you (but not me, of course.) (I removed K’s name from this post simply because I’m sure the last thing he needs is people begging him for free tickets.)

When we entered the venue I noticed the crowd looked like an expanded version of my MySpace page. I saw many familiar faces; people from bands, people from shows, people from all over. Because we arrived after the opening band there was no way we were going to get very close to the stage. Truth be told I didn’t feel like shoving my way up there and getting pushed around anyway. The four of us ended up alongside/behind the soundboard, which gave us a fairly decent and hassle free view of the stage.

Soon the lights dimmed and the band members emerged. Slayer quickly tore through their set like men possessed (and maybe they are, who knows). And yet, there was something about the whole show that seemed somewhat tame. There were no stage props, no backdrop, no visual presentation at all save for a few colored spotlights and bright strobe lights. Throughout the majority of the show the band stood stationary, motionless, as largely did the crowd. Another curious factor was, the volume level was noticeably low. At first I thought perhaps my ears had just adjusted to the loud levels of rock music over the years, but on the way out my suspicions were confirmed when I overheard a younger fan disapprovingly utter, “dude that sucked. My ears aren’t even ringing.”

By the end of the show I still couldn’t decide: had Slayer grown up, had I, or had we both? The show was devoid of any real stage banter, save for a couple of very brief song introductions. The minute the last note ended, the band left the stage. No encore, no “thank you Oklahoma City,” nothing. Just a few moments after the band’s performance ended, the house lights came on and a sea of black-shirted fans, still somewhat dazed, began pouring out of the Bricktown Event Center.

I am not disappointed that I went to the show. Slayer is, well, Slayer. The songs were fast and tight and were everything I had hoped for. The bass punched us in our guts even where we stood, and the twin guitar leads of Hanneman and King were as brilliant as ever. Slayer, even when simply going through the motions, are still pretty good.

[[ Set List ]]

Disciple (from God Hates Us All)
War Ensemble (from Seasons in the Abyss)
Jihad (from Christ Illusion)
Die By The Sword (from Show No Mercy)
Show no Mercy (from Show No Mercy)
Captor of Sin (from Haunting The Chapel)
Cult (from Christ Illusion)
Bloodline (from God Hates Us All)
Mandatory Suicide (from South of Heaven)
Seasons In The Abyss (from Seasons in the Abyss)
Supremist (from Christ Illusion)
Postmortem (from Reign In Blood)
Silent Scream (from South of Heaven)
Dead Skin Mask (from Seasons in the Abyss)
Raining Blood (from Reign In Blood)
South of Heaven (from South of Heaven)
Angel Of Death (from Reign In Blood)