Slayer played their first shows since 2019 at Riot Fest in September and Aftershock in October, with a possible European date to be announced for 2025. Slayer guitarist Gary Holt has since weighed in on the reunion shows during an interview with Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights, pretty much saying they were awesome. Holt also detailed how the band rehearsed, and even mentioned that bassist and vocalist Tom Araya was a little nervous prior to hitting the stage.
"Surreal. It was awesome. We rehearsed really hard for it, like full production rehearsal. In the past, when I did rehearse — Slayer rehearsed in this tiny little music studio room with little half stacks. This was cool 'cause I got to play with the entire rig — three amps, six cabs all on. I got to redesign the rig based on my Exodus rig. So it was the exact same identical thing tone-wise, just three times as large, which was awesome.
"We were nervous. Tom was nervous, and he sounded amazing. Sometimes you've just gotta forget about the time and how long it's been and just let muscle memory kick in and just do it. I mean, I only played one song I'd never played, and that was '213'. And 'Reborn' I'd only played, I think, once, so that was almost a new song — once or twice. Everything else was just refreshers."
Holt also talked a little about Slayer's cancelled Louder Than Life festival performance, finally noting (much like drummer Paul Bostaph) that he hopes more Slayer shows wil happen in the future.
"But it was spectacular. Losing the second show [at the ] due to the weather, the tail end of the hurricane, was a real, real bummer, especially for all the fans who flew in. I met people at the airport who flew in from England for it. And they had the best attitude about it. Obviously, it wasn't our fault. We tried everything we could. You can't control 50-mile-an-hour gusts. The crew had to evacuate, like, three times that afternoon. We never left the hotel.
"But it was amazing. It was surreal. It was like this moment. The crowd was just very happy. And we were happy, and everything was good. And hopefully we'll do some more."
