| « Neon Marshmallow Festival - Day Three wrapup | Gasoline Silver @ The Whistler » |
Concert Sun Aug 22 2010
Review: Slayer @ UIC Pavillion, 8/20/10
[Review and pictures by Brian Leli]
Slayer's Kerry King (photos by Brian Leli).
As a teenager battling teen age in the 1990s, there were some things I felt I'd never be without: anger, sadness, the hours to fill and the endless conflicts that they ignited...etc. And I was right. If your teenage years were somehow spent without these things, I'm sorry. I don't know how else one might find a place to put them, a use for them. I found my way down many damaged roads, but I also found my way to music. Very early on, I discovered that I could store my sadness in a sad song--the same way one might turn into a skid to move out of it. I learned I could do the same with my anger: The simple anger that comes when one sees another throwing their trash on the ground, or the more complex anger that comes on around birth and eventually seeks roads the size of continents down which to run.
For this anger, there is Slayer.
Slayer's Tom Araya (photos by Brian Leli).
Slayer's worth lies in the expression of anger that they've spent three decades cultivating, refining. Their music provides what all music should: release and relief. It is athletic; both physically and mentally. While I have good reason to believe that I've left my mind, listening to Slayer while jumping rope has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. They are not tears of joy or sadness--they are tears of relief. Momentary relief. The fleeting relief of letting it all out.
And it's at this point of relief where we realize the value of our anger. It is not something that should be numbed or ignored. It should be embraced. It should be acknowledged and channeled. It is a powerful tool and we all have it. It is up to us to find it if we've lost it, and to find a positive direction for it.
Anger is not the problem. It is a catalyst toward the solution.
When done well, that's the point that this breed of music makes best. And Slayer does it better than everyone--and they did it once more at the UIC Pavilion on Friday night. Photos and a setlist--featuring the entire 1990 album, Seasons in the Abyss--from the show are below.
1. World Painted Blood
2. Hate Worldwide
3. War Ensemble
4. Blood Red
5. Spirit in Black
6. Expendable Youth
7. Dead Skin Mask
8. Hallowed Point
9. Skeletons of Society
10. Temptation
11. Born of Fire
12. Seasons in the Abyss
13. South of Heaven
14. Raining Blood
15. Aggressive Perfector
16. Angel of Death
-Brian Leli
