Slayer At The Trocadero Club 
 
  1. Written by Guy Rittger ([email protected]) - thanks dude!
  2. Review of Slayer at the Trocadero Club, San Francisco, Aug. 24 1996.
  1. SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER
  2. We arrived at the Trocadero Club around 7:15 p.m. and were among the first
  3. 50 people in line.  By 8:30, the line stretched all the way down the
  4. street for several hundred meters.  While we were waiting, James Murphy,
  5. guitarist from Disincarnate, Obituary and Testament, arrived and started
  6. handing out leaflets for his new solo album.  I asked him if he thought
  7. Testament might re-form but he said that the decision to break up was made
  8. by Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson, without consulting either him or Greg
  9. Christian, and he didn't know what those two were going to do next.
  10. Apparently, after Chuck and Eric broke up the band, their record company
  11. informed them that they still needed to do one more album!  So, we might
  12. see at least one more Testament project in the near future.
  13. The doors finally opened at 9:00 and we went in and stood in front of the
  14. sound board, about 25 meters from the stage.  My wife really loves metal
  15. but doesn't like getting swept into the pit, so that's why we stayed near
  16. the back.  The Trocadero is a _REALLY_ small place and they packed it up
  17. completely so that it was almost impossible to walk anywhere without
  18. fighting through the crowd.
  19. At 9:30, the first band came on.  It was D.F.L. (Dead Fucking Last), a
  20. four-piece punk band who played pretty fast old-style thrash.  At first,
  21. the crowd kept shouting "Slayer!  Slayer!"  But the singer had a good
  22. sense of humor and lots of charisma and after awhile the crowd started
  23. getting into their music.  A small pit got started and people were
  24. applauding their set.  My wife spoke with the guitarist afterwards and
  25. asked why the band wanted to open for Slayer, since their style is so
  26. different.  He said they thought it would be fun!  I thought they were
  27. pretty good, though very traditional punk.  Drumming and bass playing were
  28. very fast and hard, and the vocals were impossible to understand.  But
  29. they had good stage presence and the crowd liked them.
  30. Next up, Unsane, a band that I had never heard before.  They started by
  31. playing a tape with dialogue from the movie "Taxi Driver" then came out
  32. onto the stage and took up their positions.  Unsane is a three-piece band
  33. (guitar-bass-drums) but made a _BIG_ sound.  I wasn't sure what to expect,
  34. since I read a review of a show they played in New Jersey that was
  35. unfavorable.  But they were excellent.  They reminded me of Prong, Helmet,
  36. Machine Head, and Biohazard:  huge guitar sound with very heavy bass and
  37. drums.  Crowd really liked them and the pit started churning very
  38. aggressively.  Between songs, the guitarist was shouting "Slayer! Slayer!"
  39. into the microphone and this made the crowd happy.  I will definitely buy
  40. their CD, since my wife and I were impressed with their sound.
  41. Now, the main event!  After Unsane finished, the roadies started pulling
  42. the sheets off Slayer's equipment and revealed a massive drum kit, more
  43. like what you would expect for a stadium show, not a small club.  So then,
  44. everyone knew it was going to be a really loud set!  We had to wait more
  45. than 30 minutes, and the crowd was chanting "Slayer! Slayer!" and getting
  46. ready to explode.  It was almost impossible to move and the temperature
  47. was so warm we were sweating, even though we hadn't gone into the pit
  48. during the first two sets.  Finally, the lights went down and Slayer came
  49. onto the stage and when they hit the first notes the crowd surged forward
  50. and the pit went crazy!
  51. The first thing that hit me was how incredible Paul Bostaph's (?) drumming
  52. sounded.  Every time he hit the bass drums it felt like getting hit with a
  53. hammer in the head and stomach.  Many times we have seen shows at this
  54. club where the sound was muddy, but Slayer sounded very clear AND very
  55. loud.  I wish we could remember the order of the songs that they played
  56. but everything was so intense that I just can't recall right this minute.
  57. For me, the highlights were "War Ensemble", "Seasons in the Abyss"
  58. (absolutely fantastic song!), "Mandatory Suicide", "Killing Fields" and
  59. the TSOL cover from "Undisputed Attitude."  But, really, every single song
  60. was great.  After about three songs, my wife had to retreat back towards
  61. the bar, in the rear of the club, because the pit was churning so hard and
  62. it was so hot.  So, then, I went straight into the pit and just went
  63. crazy.  At one point, I was right in front of Tom and Kerry and people
  64. were going over my head and security guards were throwing them back.  I
  65. was absolutely soaked with water, beer and sweat.  It was impossible to
  66. stand in one place very long because the pit would just suck you right
  67. back in and suddenly you were on the other side of the stage or on the
  68. ground, then invisible hands would drag you up again, and over and over.
  69. Just when I thought that maybe the crowd would relax, Slayer would crank
  70. it up and raise the energy to an even higher level.
  71. Musically, besides the drumming, which was some of the best speed metal
  72. drumming I've ever heard, I thought that Kerry's soloing has improved
  73. dramatically.  Even though I like all the screaming, feedbacked tremolo
  74. bar stuff he does on "Decade of Aggression", his playing last night was
  75. very, very clean and fluid.  He seemed in total control of his instrument.
  76. Actually, I'd say the same for Jeff as well.  The band just seemed really
  77. tight, and disciplined, which is not really how they sound on the "Decade"
  78. live recordings (which I like very much anyway).
  79. Slayer closed with "Mandatory Suicide" and "Angel of Death" and, when it
  80. was all over, the crowd (and I) was totally exhausted.  Slayer basically
  81. extracted every ounce of energy from the fans and left them weary, but
  82. content.
  83. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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