Hey, just got back from the FF/Slayer show in Vancouver (as of the 4th of Aug). Brief review: Kilgore couldn't show (border problems coming into Canada I think) so Noise Therapy (local band) opened. They were OK, but had the bass cranked too high so all you could really hear (esp. the vocals) was "hum hum hum". The guitarist was having trouble (the strap kept coming off of his guitar and he had to practically fight off one of the stage hands who was constantly all over him trying to put it back on). I saw their last few songs 'cuz I arrived close to 7:30pm.

Anyway, saw lots of Obsolete shirts, TONS of Slayer shirts, and a couple of Sepultura, Clutch, MM (don't ask my why), Tool, and NIN (again don't ask) shirts.

Then after a bunch of yelling FF came out. The stage was pretty straight forward, just a couple of big screens with the new (quake-like) logo on them. Anyway, FF was REALLY tight, Raymond was excellent (every bass drum beat was like a kick to the chest and he had an amazing trigger that was basically like an earthquake).

Some guy jumped on the stage during Demanufacture and grabbed the stage-left mic (the one Christian had been using to back up some of the deep throat parts) and did his best few lines before security guys grabbed him and threw him onto the crowd.

At first I could barely hear Dino's guitar, but about a quarter of the way thru the set they got it right. He had to switch to a 7-string for the new stuff.

Burt (except for his slip in the beginning of Zero Signal) was really good, he held together the new stuff and the old stuff really well. Christian did some backup deep-throat (for instance, in Martyr Burt went "got to get away, got to get away, got to get away" and Christian followed with "GET THE FUCK AWAYYYY!!!").

Anyway, after a while Burt closed off and said "OK, now WHO WANTS TO SEE SLAYER?" which got the crowd more worked up than they had been during any point in their set. Seems like most people were there to see Slayer, although they were more than happy to see FF too.

FF pales in comparison to Slayer's stage presence. True, Slayer has been in it for longer... but anyways. When Slayer came on, they whipped covers off of another 24 Marshall cabs and things got a whole lot louder. At this point things started to get a little funny because of 2nd hand smoke (you know it's not good when you SEE the sound) but basically Slayer covered all of their classics (Jesus Saves, Angel of Death, Raining Blood, Dead Skin Mask, Chemical Warfare, Mandatory Suicide, etc) plus a good selection of new stuff (In the Name of God, Scrum, Stain of Mind, and maybe 1 or 2 more). For some reason, Tom paused to say "Thank you." or "Thankyou very much." between each and every song.

Slayer brought some guy on stage (I forget his name) and got the crowd to sing happy birthday to him (because it was obviously his birthday). (crowd sings) "Happy Birthday to you..." (Bass drum kick) "Happy birthday to you..." (bass drum kick) "Happy birthday dear..." (as the crowd pauses in confusion, Tom yells the guy's name) etc.

I thought Slayer's mix was way better than the other bands, probably because they got things worked out better with their extra cabs, plus I think I hit a sweet spot in the middle of the mosh pit between the speakers.

One strange thing, I didn't think the mosh pit was as violent as it was with other bands I've seen (like WZ/Pantera). Not that it was nice and gentle either, there were a few pretty good buddy circles and I saw a couple of people fleeing with terror on their faces. Anyway, as a basic summary, it was DEFINITELY worth the $34 canadian I paid. Noise Therapy was good, but a little too light and unknown for most of the crowd. Except the vocalist messed up a few times. FF was really good, no glitches, really tight, a great way to start their tour... and Slayer just made FF look like a bunch of goofs (and I'm not saying FF didn't do an excellent job). Slayer REALLY knows how to do it.