Slayer Pauses Kia Forum Show to Scold Unruly Fans

Slayer paused its concert at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles mid-show so singer Tom Araya could reprimand unruly fans in the arena seats, Rolling Stone reported.

The stop came seven songs into the band's tour-ending performance in North America. Slayer plays thrash metal, a genre built on fast, heavy guitars and crowds that move hard at the front of the stage.

The pause lasted about five minutes. The band stopped for safety reasons after fans became too excited, and the crowd was told the show would wait until the situation settled.

Araya told the audience that the fire marshal had said the show would stay paused until fans got their act together. He asked them to look after themselves and not to destroy things, warning that venues will shut a show down when that happens. He also suggested that anyone who wanted to have fun should head to the front area near the band rather than stay in the seated arena section. If the unruly behaviour continued, he said, the band would go home.

Then the music resumed. Slayer played "God Send Death," "Bloodline" and "The Antichrist" live for the first time in nearly a decade. The concert then continued without further incident, closing with the band's 1986 album Reign in Blood played in full, followed by an encore of "Black Magic."

The episode shows how quickly a concert can stop when a crowd gets out of hand. Venue staff and fire officials have the power to halt a performance, and that power can cost the audience the rest of a show. For fans heading to a concert with both standing and seated areas, the lesson is the one Araya spelled out from the stage: keep the crowd safe, and the music keeps playing.