Slayer's low-key concert raises Saturday night fever

Famed American thrash metal band “Slayer” touched down in Bangalore expecting a crowd that would rival Metallica’s.

But the venue was a far cry from the Palace Grounds - the one place destined to beckon rock fans in droves. Bharathiya City in Thanisandra was too distant. Yet, the diehard fans turned out in good numbers to keep the show going, for a full two hours.

The Slayers obliged them with their numbers, starting off with “World painted blood,” digging deep into their archives of the 90s to belt out “Season in the abyss,” “Reign in blood” and “South of Heaven.”

Lapping up it all with cheers and cries for more were the young Slayer fans, who had landed in Bangalore from as far as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Assam.

The band’s original gang of four had one name missing: Guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Indisposed, he had stayed back in the US and was replaced by Gary Holt, the guitarist from the Exodus band.

The crowd didn’t mind, although they expected the band to belt out other popular numbers. For Bangaloreans, Slayer was the third of Thrash metal’s Big Four to rock the City, after Metallica and Megadeath.

Anthrax, the fourth band, might just be round the corner. Before the Slayers invaded the stage, the Saturday night fever had a tempo-rising by Bangalore’s own “Inner Sanctum” and the band of yore, Brahma.

For the record, Slayer made its debut album “Show No Mercy” in 1983, and was nominated for Grammy five times. It won the prestigious music award in 2007 for “Eye of the Insane” and again in 2008 for “Final Six.”