SLAYER's KERRY KING On Playing 'Big Four' Shows With METALLICA: 'I Think That Was Important'

In a brand new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Kerry King was asked to recount one of the most memorable nights he had being in SLAYER. He said: "Something that was really cool for me — and I didn't think it was going to be as cool as it was — was when we did the 'Big Four' shows [with METALLICA, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX]. I think that was important. I think it mattered. When I went in, I thought it was going to be cool for the fans, but in the end, it was cool for me, too."

He added: "The funniest thing in the history of Kerry King and SLAYER is us and METALLICA, we don’t really run in the same circles. As similar we are, you know, we've never been on tour with those guys. To actually play with them on the 'Big Four' was really cool for me. I'd go back behind where Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] goes when he gets done with a song — we called that Larsland — we'd go watch the show from there. It was really cool. It was just cool hanging. Kirk [Hammett, METALLICA guitarist] would come and hang out, and we'd go do stuff with Lars. It was fun."

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine recently told the"Talk Is Jericho" podcast about the possibility of more "Big Four" shows in the future: "I think that the 'Big Four' thing that we did, it was really important. It was necessary for a lot of different reasons. You know, if it happens again, that would be great. If it doesn't, the people who got to see it got to see something really remarkable."

He added: "Am I supposed to doing it? You know, it would have to be the right thing. I think that, you know, MEGADETH is at a place right now where we're successful to a degree where we would be happy continuing to do what we do on our own. So if we're gonna do another 'Big Four' thing, I would want it to be something where we walk away as content as METALLICA does from something like that. It's not METALLICA and three other dudes."

METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX played together for the first time in history on June 16, 2010 in front of 81,000 fans at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland. The night before the concert, METALLICA organized a dinner with members of all four bands, a get-together that MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson called "very relaxed and comfortable" and "a class way" to ease into the tour.

The "Big Four" played its last concert on September 14, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Since then, METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX have played a number of shows together, including the 2013 Soundwave festival in Australia. They also performed at the 2014 Heavy MTL festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.