Thrash metal legends, Slayer are set to return to Boise on Thursday, March 17. The Big 4 behemoths will be performing at the Revolution Concert House and Events Center along with fellow metal stalwarts, Testament and Carcass. Slayer last ventured to the Treasure Valley as headliners for the eighth and final tour of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival last summer. The upcoming concert is among the first few dates for the first leg of the Repentless World Tour. Tickets for the show are still available here for only $35.
Slayer released its twelfth studio album, Repentless, last summer. The record marked the return of drummer Paul Bostaph, who took a 12-year hiatus from the band after recording 2001’s God Hates Us All album. Bostaph’s resume speaks for itself: from his previous stint with Slayer, to his time with Testament and Exodus, to his work with the seminal Bay Area group, Forbidden, Paul is drumming legend. This week, AXS caught up with Bostaph to talk about the upcoming tour, making the Repentless album, and what is important to him at this point in his career.
As Slayer rolls into 2016, the band celebrates its 35 anniversary, and the 30th anniversary of its groundbreaking Reign in Blood album. Creating a setlist for the upcoming tour is a daunting task, and we asked Bostaph what fans might expect and if there will be any obscure cuts in the set:
“I’m not sure if you’ll see anything that’s totally obscure, per se, but we have so many songs that are at our disposal in terms of what we can play as a band that you never know what we’re going to come up with. We’re dusting off a few songs this week and you might hear a few things you haven’t heard in a while.
“I always says it’s a great problem to have, but what song do you take out of the setlist to put something obscure in? You know, you take one song out and people are ticked off that you didn’t play that song that night. What I mean by it’s a great problem to have is the band has so many great songs, from a fan’s perspective, which I’ve had that perspective. I mean, jeez, over the course of time, it’s like–you take ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ out, and that would be the song you wanted to hear that night, ’cause you put in something else. So it’s a good problem to have.”
You can check out the full interview with Paul above. We also recently talked to Eric Peterson of Testament who shared that Boise fans might hear at least one new song from the upcoming album when they roll through town. You can check that interview out here.