SLAYER’s return on the stage after years of silence has caused a frenzy among extreme music fans, but their participation in the grand farewell concert of BLACK SABBATH on July 5th, 2025, at Villa Park in Birmingham adds even more weight to their highly anticipated appearance.
In addition to their performance at Back To The Beginning, SLAYER has announced that they are making a powerful return to live action as headliners with new shows and festivals in the UK, Canada and the USA, marking their first visit to these countries in six years.
More specifically, on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 they will perform at Blackweir Fields in Cardiff, Wales in front of 35,000 people, while on Sunday, July 6th, they will perform at Finsbury Park in London, where they will play live in front of 45,000 fans! The full lineup for these two concerts is very strong and consists of SLAYER, AMON AMARTH, ANTHRAX, MASTODON, HATEBREED and NECKBREAKER!
They will also perform at the Quebec Festival D’été in Quebec, Canada, with MASTODON on July 11th, 2025. Their final stop will be the September 18th, 2025 concert at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, where they will share the stage with ROB ZOMBIE, LAMB OF GOD, DOWN, THE STORY SO FAR, CANNIBAL CORPSE, CAVALERA, NECK DEEP, EXODUS, and ATREYU, among others.
Kerry King, in a recent interview, revealed that SLAYER will honor BLACK SABBATH at the July 5, 2025 concert by performing a surprise cover of a BLACK SABBATH song. SLAYER has already honored BLACK SABBATH in the past, covering “Hand Of Doom” for the tribute album “Nativity In Black II” in 2000. When asked which BLACK SABBATH album he would take with him in case of a world-ending disaster, he answered without hesitation:
“I will never forget 2004, when Rob Halford returned to JUDAS PRIEST and we were third on the billing. It was one of the best live shows of my life. I would take ‘Sabotage’ with me. There’s something about that record that keeps me coming back over and over. Maybe ‘Symptom Of The Universe’… it’s a constant outburst of badass music.”
