Slayer was a whole different animal. I heard one of thier early EP's and their first album, Show No Mercy and was very turned-off. The whole Slayer image thing was just too much. You know, that "satan-metal" thing. It wasn't until much later, on a bus-ride that I discovered that I could get into this band. A guy I knew at the time had Seasons In The Abyss and I'd run out of music, so I gave it a whirl. I was blown away by how good it was and in short time had picked up the entire back-catalogue, discovering along the way that they are a really good band.

I first saw Slayer at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It was the first AND last metal show at that place and an incredible experience. It was one of those off-Broadway type stage-show places but they booked the Slayer gig because Slayer was too big for the local clubs and too small for the Providence Civic Center (5,000 capacity, I think), so the PPAC was the only place in town that could accomodate the show. It was an intense, brutal affair. The crowd was so out of control that it was unbelievable. The place was set up like a theater, with stadium-style seating, an orchestra pit and a balcony. Later, it was renovated and "nicened-up" (my word... but cool, isn't it?) but at the time it was a dump in danger of meeting the wrecking-ball, so they figured, why the fuck not? Big mistake.

They had removed the first three or four rows of seats and erected a barrier in front of the orchestra pit. I was up in the first couple of rows on the balcony, but I remember thinking before the show started, THIS could get interesting. By the end of the first song, a full-blown pit had started on the ENTIRE open area between the barriers and the first row of seats. There was no smoking or drinking inside the theater-proper, just in the halls and lobby, yet people had lit up and brought their beer inside. By the third or fourth song, the barriers were knocked down and seats were being torn off the floor (where they were BOLTED in!) and thrown into the orchestra pit. By about the fifth or sixth song, seat cushions were on fire and being thrown into the orchestra pit as well. Security had absolutely no chance of getting the place under control and even Tom Araya was threatening to stop the show. They knew that there would be a full-blown riot if they did, so they played a probably somewhat abbreviated but full set. At this point, even I was having second thoughts. In the end, there were thousands of dollars worth of damage to that place.