Watch: SLAYER Covers BLACK SABBATH's 'Wicked World' At 'Back To The Beginning'

SLAYER played a six-song set at BLACK SABBATH's "Back To The Beginning" charity event on Saturday (July 5).

The California thrash metal pioneers opened their performance with "Disciple" and "War Ensemble" before playing BLACK SABBATH's deep cut "Wicked World" from the latter's self-titled album. SLAYER concluded its set by playing three more of its classic songs: "South Of Heaven", Raining Blood" and "Angel Of Death".

SLAYER's "Back To The Beginning" setlist was as follows:

01. Disciple
02. War Ensemble
03. Wicked World (BLACK SABBATH cover) (snippet)
04. South Of Heaven (with "Wicked World" reprise)
05. Raining Blood
06. Angel Of Death

This past April, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King told Igor Miranda of Rolling Stone Brasil about his band's appearance at "Back To The Beginning": "It's such an honor to even be thought of to play that, and I'm glad we were actually in the 'working mode' so we can get that offer. It's gonna be awesome. And I drug my feet and picked our song really late, so when there weren't as many obvious choices, but the one I picked is gonna work out really cool. I worked it out with my [solo] band, so me and Paul [Bostaph, SLAYER and KERRY KING drummer] could rehearse it. So we've already got it. We've just gotta get Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] and Gary [Holt, SLAYER guitarist] on board whenever — probably in June we will rehearse for that. It's gonna be killer. What we're doing is cool."

"I've already thought about being at that show very early 'cause there's a lot of my friends that are gonna be playing SABBATH songs, and I wanna see a lot of it," King added. "I'm sure the stage is gonna be a nightmare getting onto, so I'm hoping there's live feeds backstage so we can just watch it and hear it. I wanna see METALLICA. I wanna see PANTERA. I wanna see Lzzy Hale, just to name a few."

SLAYER famously covered SABBATH's "Hand Of Doom" for the "Nativity In Black II: A Tribute To Black Sabbath" album, which came out in 2000.

Last December, King was asked by Australia's Wall Of Sound which BLACK SABBATH album he would take with him if the planet was being blown up and we were all boarding a big spaceship and he was only allowed to take one SABBATH LP with him. He responded:  "I would take… It's easy and it's hard 'cause I'm a super [Ronnie James] Dio fan. But I would take [SABBATH's sixth studio album, 1975's] 'Sabotage'. Something about the vibe on that record. It's cool. I mean, they're all cool, but something about that one. Maybe 'Symptom Of The Universe'. I don't know. It's nonstop badassery."

Back in 2017, King picked "Sabotage" as one of his 10 favorite metal albums, telling Rolling Stone magazine: "'Sabotage' is just a very heavy record. There's so much good stuff on there. As I picked these records, I picked the ones I'm compelled to play if I'm working out or driving, and 'Sabotage' was my choice for BLACK SABBATH. It has 'Megalomania', 'Symptom Of The Universe', which has definitely got attitude, 'Hole In The Sky'. And it has the instrumental 'Supertzar'. I love that one. It grips me for some reason."

Last year, Kerry was asked by Metal Hammer Greece's TV show "TV War" if he has ever had a negative experience meeting one of his musical idols. He responded: "Yeah. Only once. And I won't even tell you who, because he doesn't deserve it. But nine times out of ten… The last one that I'll say I got over the hump with, 'cause I was still such a fan, was [BLACK SABBATH's] Tony Iommi. And it was very late in our careers, but it's fucking Tony; he's the godfather of all this shit. I think it was, like, 2006, finally. And I knew him before that, but I couldn't talk to him. It was Tony Iommi; I just couldn't do it."

Kerry continued: "in 2006 I went to the Classic Rock Awards in Britain. And I was presenting Tony with an award, and I was nervous as fucking all hell. I was out of my environment. I've done metal shows, I've done the [Revolver] Golden Gods billions of fucking times, but at the Classic Rock Awards, I was out of my element. Fucking Steven Tyler's [AEROSMITH] out there, AC/DC's out there, DEF LEPPARD's out there — people that I've admired in my history but didn't know any of them. So I'm fucking shaking up there. I hit the mic when I'm talking. And I was just a fucking idiot. [Laughs] So, I get to give Tony his award, take a picture with him. Then I felt like we were bros. I was over the Tony hump, and that was cool."

King added: "I've had a lot of heroes, be it from [JUDAS] PRIEST to SABBATH and whoever the hell, [DEEP PURPLE's] Ritchie Blackmore. But, yeah, Tony was the one. I had to climb that mountain and get over it."

More than 40,000 fans attended "Back To The Beginning", which also saw performances from BLACK SABBATH, Ozzy Osbourne, GUNS N' ROSES, METALLICA, PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD and ANTHRAX, among others. Profits from the show will be shared equally between the charities Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice.

The all-day event at Villa Park, produced by Live Nation, was hosted and compered by American actor Jason Momoa, and featured a supergroup of musicians.

A livestream of the daylong event was announced in June. While it was called a livestream, the video was delayed two hours from the in-arena start time.

Broadcast live from Birmingham, United Kingdom's Villa Park, those who missed out on being there can still experience this unforgettable moment, with the chance to rewatch the concert in its entirety for another 48 hours.

For more information, visit www.backtothebeginning.com.