Sleaze Roxx: Slaughter Concert Review

Show Date: June 13, 2009

Location: Decatur, Illinois, U.S.A.

Venue: Decatur Macon County Fairgrounds

Reviewer: Graham Lamontagne

Band Website: www.slaughterweb.com - www.myspace.com/themarkslaughter

Over the years, Slaughter has never once deviated from their sound, and on Saturday, June 13, they brought their high energy Rock n' Roll to the Decatur Macon County Fairgrounds.

Watching Slaughter massacre the energetic crowd with "The Wild Life", "Eye To Eye", "Spend My Life", "Mad About You", my favorite tune "Burnin' Bridges", "Up All Night", a sweet cover of Black Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell" and of course "Fly to The Angels" was ten times more fun than the lackluster Aerosmith show a few days earlier in St. Louis (read the review at Sleazeroxx.com). Slaughter may have been playing a mediocre venue compared to Aerosmith, but they performed like a rabid pack of wild animals.

Blas Elias is hands down the most animated drummer I have ever seen live. He drums like an absolute lunatic and constantly switched from a sitting position to a standing position, and often jumped up and down, ferociously bashing his kit. Mark Slaughter still hits those high notes at an ear piercing level and is a powerhouse on the guitar.

The only complaint with the show is that Slaughter did not perform their heaviest tune, "Reach For The Sky". Other than that, their genuine performance was greatly appreciated.

I certainly did not need anymore validation that Slaughter is a genuine band, but I definitely got it when I stuck around after the show and met Mark Slaughter. Roadies were telling people to disperse, but Mark kept posing for pictures and signing autographs. He signed my Mark Slaughter Metal Trading Card (yeah that's right, I have Heavy Metal Trading Cards a friend bought me as a joke, but the jokes on them because L.A. Guns and Slaughter have both signed their cards), posed for a picture with me, and thanked me for coming out and for all the years of devotion.

When I was front row at Aerosmith a few years ago, Steven Tyler reached down and shook all the female fan's hands and blatantly skipped me (I did however leap up and grab his foot). Ignoring a real fan for the cliche groupies that adorn every show in every city is all the evidence I need to conclude that Aerosmith could care less about the dudes who buy their albums. As you can see, one band is all about the music, while the other seems more interested in fame and money.

In summary, the Aerosmith show was a headache; Slaughter was head-banging.