SLAYER has announced a one-night-only show just added to the band’s handful of headline concerts set for this summer. Marking the band’s only U.S. East Coast performance in 2025, SLAYER will headline Hershey, Pennsylvania’s 30,000-seat Hersheypark Stadium on Saturday, September 20, 2025.
A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. ET and end on Thursday, April 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET. When prompted, type in the presale code “REIGN” at Ticketmaster.com to access tickets before the general public. General on-sale will be Friday, April 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
The concert will be hosted by WWE superstar Damian Priest, a well-known “metalhead” and a longtime SLAYER fan. Priest’s signature “finisher” is SLAYER‘s “South Of Heaven”, and SLAYER‘s Kerry King provided guitar for Priest‘s “Rise For The Night” theme.
This exclusive concert brings together a multi-generation, powerhouse lineup:
SLAYER
KNOCKED LOOSE
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
POWER TRIP
CAVALERA (exclusively performing SEPULTURA’s “Chaos A.D.” album)
EXODUS (performing “Bonded By Blood” album)
SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya said: “Slayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeerrrrrr!!!!!! One night only, stacked line up, it’s going to be f*cking sick!!!! Hersheypark — be there… If not, you’re either dead, in jail or a sissy!!!!!”
About SLAYER performing at the 30,000-seat Hersheypark Stadium, guitarist Kerry King commented: “Last year, SLAYER played only two shows, and those shows affected me like playing the ‘Big Four’ shows did. When we played our first show last year in Chicago, I figured it was going to be great for the fans; maybe there would be some people who had never seen us play before, but the reaction was just completely overwhelming. The fans reacted to us like I’d expect them to react to the biggest band on the planet. It was amazing. So for the Hershey concert, we’ll play a SLAYER show, we’ll have all of our big fire effects, and just burn everything like we used to.”
Added King: “This will be the first time SLAYER has played with POWER TRIP or KNOCKED LOOSE, but I am well aware of them from word of mouth, and hearing their music on Liquid Metal. I’m looking forward to seeing them live.”
POWER TRIP said: “Honored to share the stage with one of our all time favorite bands, SLAYER. See you sick f*cks at the riff clinic.”
KNOCKED LOOSE said: “We’re excited to play with some of the best heavy bands of all time, past and present.”
SLAYER‘s 2025 concert dates are as follows:
July 3 – Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Lineup:
SLAYER with special guests AMON AMARTH , ANTHRAX, MASTODON, HATEBREED and NECKBREAKKER
July – 5 – Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
“Back To The Beginning” with BLACK SABBATH
July 6 – Finsbury Park, London
Lineup:
SLAYER with special guests AMON AMARTH , ANTHRAX, MASTODON, HATEBREED and NECKBREAKKER
July 11 – Quebec Festival d’été de, Québec City, Quebec
Direct support: MASTODON
September 18 – Louder Than Life @ Highland Festival Grounds, Louisville, KY
Lineup: SLAYER, ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON and more
September 20 – Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA
Lineup: SLAYER, KNOCKED LOOSE, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, POWER TRIP, CAVALERA, EXODUS
In a recent interview with Australia’s Metal Roos, King spoke about SLAYER‘s future plans, following the band’s two festival appearances in September and October after a five-year hiatus. He said: “We’re never gonna tour again. We’re never gonna make a record again. Mark my word: we’re never gonna make a record again, we’re never gonna tour again. Because that was the last thing. We said [back in 2018], ‘This is our final tour.’ It took five years for us to come and say, ‘Hey, here’s a couple of shows, five-year anniversary.'”
Elaborating on the significance of SLAYER‘s comeback live performances more than four decades after the band’s formation, Kerry said: “I think it’s really cool. A lot of fans are into it. There’s gonna be haters who say, ‘Oh, they retired.’ Yeah. Whatever. This is all about celebration. Say a kid was 10 years old when we retired. Now he’s 15, 16. [It’s his] first opportunity to see us. I think that’s important.”
King also touched upon the fact that SLAYER‘s reunion shows were announced just a couple of weeks after he went public with the details of his new solo band and debut solo album. He said: “The [SLAYER] announcement timing was not my favorite, but my band was doing its thing. The festivals SLAYER agreed to play, they wanted to release [the information about us playing there], they wanted to announce [it]. So, the timing wasn’t in my favor, but everything went [as it did], and here we are in Australia [with my new band] kicking ass.”
Kerry reflected on SLAYER‘s two reunion performances last fall — on September 22, 2024 at the Riot Fest in Chicago, Illinois and on October 10, 2024 at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California — during a recent interview with Brian Slagel, CEO of Metal Blade Records, for the recently launched “100 Songs That Define Heavy Metal” podcast. Regarding how he felt going into the Riot Fest gig, King said: “It’s kind of like when we did the first ‘Big Four’ show, I said, ‘This is gonna be really cool for the fans, and it’ll be good to see the guys.’ And that’s about all I gave it. But then we actually played the show and a handful more shows, and I said, ‘You know what? This is really cool for me.’ And I didn’t expect that. And I didn’t expect that when we did the Chicago show [SLAYER at Riot Fest]. I went with the exact same idea. I’m, like, ‘This is gonna be really cool for the fans, especially fans that were too young to see us.’ And I hit the stage and I got goosebumps. I’m, like, ‘This is way bigger than I ever gave it credit for.’ … [And] we’ve got a lot of history in Chicago too, so for the reunion show to be there, it was pretty epic. And the response was over the top. It was way overwhelming.”
At Riot Fest and Aftershock, SLAYER ran through a 20-song set that included opener “South Of Heaven”, “Seasons In The Abyss”, “Angel Of Death”, “Hell Awaits”, “Raining Blood” and the title track of SLAYER‘s final album, “Repentless”.
SLAYER was also scheduled to play at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky on September 27, 2024, but that performance was canceled due to severe weather.
The lineup for SLAYER‘s comeback was the same as the one which last toured in 2019: King and drummer Paul Bostaph, along with Araya and guitarist Gary Holt.
King‘s debut solo album, “From Hell I Rise”, came out in May 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music.
Photo credit: Ryan Segedi
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