After five years, Slayer will return to the stage for headlining sets at Riot Fest and Louder Than Life in September 2024.
The announcement on Wednesday (February 21st) comes as a massive surprise, with the thrash legends set to play Riot Fest in Chicago (September 20th-22nd) and the Friday (September 27th) headlining slot at Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, a week later.
“Nothing compares to the 90 minutes when we’re on stage playing live, sharing that intense energy with our fans,” said frontman Tom Araya via a press release, “and to be honest, we have missed that.”
Added guitarist Kerry King: “Have I missed playing live? Absolutely. Slayer means a lot to our fans; they mean a lot to us. It will be five years since we have seen them.”
Slayer embarked on their farewell tour back in the fall of 2019, playing what appeared to be their final gig on November 30th of that year at The Forum in Los Angeles. At the end of the set, King symbolically left his iconic chain on the stage.
King has been the most vocal in regards to what he considered a premature retirement by Slayer. He went as far as saying that part of his “livelihood got taken away” after the band called it quits; meanwhile, he almost immediately began working on a solo project in the same vein as Slayer.
More recently, King told Rolling Stone he hadn’t spoken to Araya since the final 2019 shows — “not even a text … not even an email” — making Wednesday’s reunion news even more unexpected.
“If Tom hit me up, I’d probably respond,” King added. “It probably depends on what he hit me up for, but I don’t wish him dead at this moment.”
Apparently, King’s bandmates took his pointed remarks more as a call to action than as a criticism. Per Slayer’s official press release, the reunion lineup will feature the familiar quartet of King, Araya, guitarist Gary Holt, and drummer Paul Bostaph — the same group that completed the farewell tour in 2019.
It remains to be seen whether the festival dates will be a one-off run or the beginning of a sustained reunion. The announcement of the reunion shows comes just weeks after King launched his eponymous solo band, which is dropping its debut album From Hell I Rise on May 17th, and touring with Mastodon and Lamb of God this summer.
The full Riot Fest lineup will be announced this spring, and you can get tickets here. Get tickets to Louder Than Life here, and see the full lineup in the poster below..