SLAYER
Le Zénith - Paris, France
November 11, 2008

	Finally! Slayer were back in town, for The Unholy Alliance Tour part III. This time they were playing with Amon Amarth, Trivium and Mastodon, but once again I had to work late so I missed all the opening acts…And I even missed the beginning the first notes of Slayer’s show… This was disappointing at first, but after the great performance they made, I really can’t complain.
	This is the smaller venue where I’ve seen Slayer. The Zenith is something like 6000 capacity, and it was far from being full. There were maybe 3000 people attending the show, but as they closed a few seating rows, it didn’t look half empty. Since the year 2000 they had always played in Bercy, a 17 000 capacity venue, when they come to Paris. If there were so few people I think it's because Slayer played the Hellfest this summer, a big metal festival in Clisson, near the city of Nantes, just a few kilometres from Paris. But I’m sure when all Slayer French fans will know the setlist, they will regret not being there!
	Anyway, there were few people, but everyone there was really into the show. That’s how a Slayer concert is, once they start playing, it’s hard not to headbang. There was pogo, crowdsurfing, moshing…I can tell you that it was a living hell to get these pictures! The lightshow was good; red, green or blue, and covering the whole stage. The band had a backdrop made of lights showing Slayers’ logo, inverted crosses and a lot of this stuff. Sometimes there were also images, quite controversial (but hey, it’s Slayer) during songs like Jesus Saves or Angel Of Death.
	Some people say that Tom Araya’s voice is getting worst and that he cannot sing anymore. Well, as far as I’m concerned, I think he still does very well, and moreover, he sang great that night in Paris! I really loved it. Some says it was not the case of their show at the Hellfest festival. I don’t know, I wasn't there, but here in Paris he did great.
	And about the songs they played, well that’s the best part. First, we had a few classics like War Ensemble, Seasons in the Abyss and the mighty Chemical Warfare. Second, we had some rare songs, such as Live Undead and Ghosts Of War, both from the South Of Heaven album. Third, we heard a new song, Psychopathy Red, from Slayer’s forthcoming album. Very fast song, it sounded good.
	And finally…well, when I heard the first notes from Angel Of Death I thought, “OK, cool, that’s a great classic”. They started playing Piece By Piece and I went “Oh, I love that one and it’s the first time I hear it live”. But then they started Necrophobic... I knew that this was a historical moment!
	Yes, Slayer played the whole Reign In Blood album that night! I knew that they had done it before, but I never thought I’ll had the chance to see it! All 10 songs were played, faster than ever, and the audience was more than euphoric!
	There was no encore after Raining Blood but…who needs an encore after having heard this whole Thrash Metal masterpiece live?
	Some people at the end were saying. “Oh yeah, they didn’t play Dead Skin Mask or Die by The Sword"… Well, they can't please everybody, but I think they try hard! To me the setlist was just perfect, every song was very well chosen and it was unique! No need to tell you, I went back home with a big smile on my face!
	Setlist Slayer – le Zénith - Paris, France – November 11, 2008 01. Flesh Storm 02. War Ensemble 03. Chemical Warfare 04. Ghosts Of War 05. Jihad 06. Psychopathy Red (New Song) 07. Seasons In The Abyss 08. Ditto Head 09. Live Undead 10. South Of Heaven ++Reign In Blood++ 11. Angel Of Death 12. Piece By Piece 13. Necrophobic 14. Altar Of Sacrifice 15. Jesus Saves 16. Criminally Insane 17. Reborn 18. Epidemic 19. Postmortem 20. Raining Blood
	Slayer Line-up Tom Araya - Vocals, Bass Kerry King - Guitars Jeff Hanneman - Guitars Dave Lombardo - Drums Links: Slayer Website Slayer MySpace