Slayer Announce More 2025 Reunion Gigs
Metal legends Slayer have announced two more gigs that are set for 2025, this time non-festival dates. – Author: Charles Ken, Image via Ryan Segedi
Slayer are one of those bands that when they said they were going to retire, you really believed it. But, after wrapping up their farewell tour from May 10, 2018, to November 30, 2019, the band decided to have another go at it a few years later.
Slayer performed their first live show in five years at Riot Festival in the Chicago area last fall. For what it’s worth, the band never said they would stop playing shows for good after retirement. They only promised to never do a proper tour again.
Now, however, it seems the guys of Slayer are really getting back into things. On Tuesday, March 4, the band announced two more gigs that are set for 2025, this time non-festival dates.
Slayer’s New 2025 Shows
Thrash greats Slayer will headline two new gigs in the U.K. later this year, and the shows will also feature opening sets from Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker.
The first of the dates is set for Blackweir Fields on July 3 in Cardiff, Wales, just three days before the much-anticipated Back to the Beginning concert in Birmingham. Then, on July 6, Slayer will perform another headlining gig at Finsbury Park in London.
These dates will mark Slayer’s only headlining European shows for the year. They will also mark the band’s first time playing overseas in six years, since the reunion shows so far have been in the States.
Slayer, of course, will also perform at the massive Back to the Beginning tour, the Black Sabbath reunion show that will be Ozzy Osbourne’s last-ever live performance. The gig will feature sets from Black Sabbath, Ozzy’s solo band and many more, including Slayer, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Pantera, Mastodon and Anthrax. The bill really goes on and on for Black Sabbath’s final show, so they’re going out on top. Given Osbourne’s health issues, too, it’s a pretty sure thing that this will really mark Sabbath’s final time on the stage together.
Tickets for Slayer’s headlining gigs will go on sale on Friday, March 7, at 10 a.m. GMT, and a pre-sale starts on March 5 at 10 a.m. GMT. Slayer’s website has full details on the dates.
It’s wild to think that Slayer haven’t performed outside of North America since the end of their farewell tour in 2019, so the shows are a long time coming for fans in the U.K. and Europe.
Slayer is Still ‘Retired’
Of course, even though Slayer’s 2025 roster is filling up, between these gigs and their U.S. festival dates, don’t expect the band to start touring like a normal band again. Guitarist Kerry King, who unleashed his debut solo album “From Hell I Rise” in 2024, has stated that the band is certainly finished with touring and making music, so these are just one-offs.
“Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, it wasn’t bad blood,” King told Audio Ink Radio of the band’s retirement. “Tom (Araya) was just done. And, when Tom told me he was done, I went, okay. Well, I’m not going to try to talk you into it, because if you’re if you’re trying to talk somebody into it, their hearts are not in it.”
He added, “So, it was over for me, and, of course, a month after we were done, offers came in, because people think you’re done. What we retired from was touring. We never said we were done playing. We said it was our final tour, and I don’t think three shows constitute a tour, so if you want to get technical, I think we’re in the ballpark of being truthful.”
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