SLAYER's KERRY KING Performs With MEGADETH: High-Quality Photos Available

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King joined MEGADETH on stage last Thursday night (October 21) at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California to perform MEGADETH's classic "Rattlehead". This marked the first time in 26 years that Kerry played the song with MEGADETH (King took part in MEGADETH's very first shows in February 1984 as the band's second guitarist).

High-quality photos of the performance can be viewed below (courtesy of Andrew Stuart).

Commented MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson: "Some may not know that Kerry was the first guitar player to ever play live with us on our maiden voyage shows in San Francisco back in early 1984. True to form, Kerry proved his god-like metal status and nailed it last [Thursday] night in front of a packed house of thrashers at the Gibson Amphitheater! It was powerful for us all to be 'thrashing 'till MEGADETH' again on an early classic song after all these years."

Last Thursday night's Los Angeles-area concert was the final show of the Jägermeister Music Tour, featuring the original "Clash Of The Titans" lineup from 1991 — SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX.

In a 2006 interview with Decibel magazine, Kerry King and fellow SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman spoke about King's decision to play MEGADETH's first live shows more than 20 years ago:

Jeff Hanneman: "I thought [Kerry] was an ass for doing that. [laughs] I remember talking to Tom [Araya] about it, like, 'I guess we're gonna get a new guitar player.' I thought he was kissing Dave's [Mustaine] ass or something, and I thought it was kinda fucked up. I think he was gonna join. Kerry will probably tell you something different, but why do that if you're not thinking about joining? I'm a loyalist, you know, and I thought SLAYER was the best thing going. Why go hang out with somebody else? If Dave would've asked me to do it, I would've told him to fuck off."

Kerry King: "I did it because I admired Mustaine — I'd seen him play with METALLICA. He'd be up there drunk off his ass, just ripping, not even looking at his fingers. Me and Jeff didn't know how to do that yet. [laughs] When he got kicked out and was sniffing around for a guitarist, I figured I'd do it because I thought I would learn something. The other guys in SLAYER were probably unhappy, but we weren't really known back then, and the way I looked at it was that if people saw me playing in Dave's band, it'd be more publicity for SLAYER. Now you look back and you think 'supergroup,' but back then, absolutely not. I played their first five shows, and then I was like, 'Man, this is taking too much of my time.' I can't speak for Dave, but I don't think he would've been unhappy if I stuck around."

All photos below by Andrew Stuart.