Slayer announces final UK and European tour

11 May 2018

Slayer have announced their last ever UK and European tour.

Slayer

The thrash metal titans - made up of Kerry King, Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt - will play 24 dates as part of their farewell run, kicking off at Dublin's 3 Arena on November 1, including six dates in the UK and 17 in mainland Europe, concluding in Helsinki, Finland on December 8.

They'll be joined on the road by Lamb Of God, Anthrax and Obituary, who have been supporting them around the world.

The 'Angel of Death' hitmakers released their 12th and final studio album 'Repentless' in September 2015, two years after they were left devastated by the death of their guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who formed the band with Kerry in 1981.

Slayer shot to fame with their 1986 album 'Reign in Blood' and are known as one of the so-called Big Four thrash metal bands alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

In 2016, vocalist Tom Araya admitted it was time to "collect my pension" after 35 years in music, hinting at a possible retirement, but said he still loved playing live.

He said: "At 35 years, it's time to collect my pension. This is a career move.

"I'm grateful that we've been around for 35 years; that's a really long time. So, yeah, to me, it is.

"Because when we started off, everything was great, because you're young and invincible. And then there came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth.

"And now, at this stage, at the level we're at now, I can do that; I can fly home when I want to, on days off, and spend some time with my family, which is something I wasn't able to do when [my kids] were growing up.

"Now they're both older and mature. So now I take advantage of that.

"Yeah, it just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road. 35 years is a long time."

Tickets go on sale at 9am GMT On May 18 via Live Nation.

Slayer's UK and European farewell tour dates are as follows:

Nov 01: Dublin 3 Arena, Ireland

Nov 03: London SSE Arena Wembley, UK

Nov 05: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK

Nov 07: Birmingham Arena, UK

Nov 09: Manchester Arena, UK

Nov 10: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, UK

Nov 12: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK

Nov 14: Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany