''War at the Warfield'' is a

concert video A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history Th ...

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...

which was released on July 29, 2003, through American Recordings. Recorded at

Warfield Theatre The Warfield Theatre, colloquially referred to as The Warfield, is a 2,300-seat music venue located in San Francisco, California. It was built as a vaudeville theater and opened as the '' Loews Warfield'' on May 13, 1922. History In the 1920s, T ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, on December 7, 2001, it is the band's second video album. The DVD's contents were announced by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

on July 25, 2003. It is the last release by Slayer with

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Paul Bostaph Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

(before he came back in 2013), who left due to a chronic elbow injury. Bostaph was subsequently replaced by the original Slayer drummer

Dave Lombardo David Lombardo (born February 16, 1965) is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of American thrash metal band Slayer. He is currently playing drums with Testament, Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungl ...

. ''War at the Warfield'' was well received by critics, debuting at number three on the ''Billboard'' DVD chart, and sold over 7,000 copies in its first week. It was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for selling over 50,000 copies in the United States. It also won a 2003

Metal Edge ''Metal Edge'' was a magazine covering heavy metal music published by Zenbu Media. The magazine was founded in the summer of 1985, during the height of glam metal's success. Zenbu Media acquired ''Metal Edge'' in February 2007. Both ''Metal Edg ...

Readers' Choice Award for DVD of the Year.

Recording and release

The video was recorded at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on December 7, 2001. ''War at the Warfield'' was Slayer's second DVD. Originally set for release on February 11, 2003, and later February 13, 2003, it was delayed several times, due to unspecified "production issues". However, on May 20, 2003, it was announced that the release would be on June 17, 2003, only to be pushed back once again to July 27. Before the DVD's release,

Tom Araya Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz (; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean American musician, best known as the vocalist and bassist of American thrash metal band Slayer. Araya is ranked 58th by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocali ...

commented, "I don't think it's different than any other Slayer show, you got your kids doing the mosh stuff. They get crazy, they tear the place up. And then you get the one kid that's tempted to jump off the balcony. Whether he does it or not is another story. When they do, of course they get hurt, but they always insist on staying so they can watch the rest of the show, then they go to the emergency room." On July 25, 2003, four days before its release,

announced the DVD's contents.Wiederhorn, Jon (2003-07-25
"Slayer Unleash New 'War' But Steer Clear Of Iraq, 9-11"
MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2010-07-07.

Bostaph's departure

Bostaph gave the band prior knowledge of his willingness to leave before recording the DVD. "You gotta understand that the taping of that; the ''Warfield'' show was two shows before my last show with the band. I haven't watched it because you kinda go back with your scene... for the fans, they see a show; for me, I see my second to last show with the band, you know what I mean? I have it but I needed to get some distance away from the situation and move on with my life. It's like breaking up with a girlfriend." Bostaph eventually left the band before Christmas due to a chronic elbow injury, saying it would hinder his ability to play. After his departure, Bostaph joined the band Systematic. On December 21, 2001, it was announced that the original drummer,

, would "temporarily reclaim his place behind the drums on the next leg" of Slayer's God Hates Us All tour.D'Angelo, Joe (2001-12-21
"Original Slayer Drummer Dave Lombardo Back For Tour"
MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2010-07-07. Bostaph described his time with the band as "an unbelievable ride with Slayer, playing with these guys has been an incredible high point in my career", and that he is "really grateful for the experience".

Reception

Released through Universal Music & Video Distribution, the DVD entered the ''Billboard'' DVD chart at number three, selling over 7,000 copies in its first week. On June 2, 2004, the DVD was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for more than 50,000 shipments in the United States. William Ruhlmann of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

commented that the DVD "serves as both a fan's statement on Slayer and a good representation of the group's music and performance style." Jon Wiederhorn, an editor for MTV, said that "Slayer's new ''War at the Warfield'' DVD isn't one of those home-video concert releases meant to distract fans during a lengthy gap between records—the group already has ten songs written for its next LP, which should be out by April." Andy Patrizio of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

awarded the DVD seven out of ten, mentioning "the ferocity and intensity is still there, just a tad slower," and summarising with the statement, "if you're a Slayer fan, or into thrash in general, you'll love this. If you're not, this video isn't going to change your opinion on the music." Patrizio criticized the video's direction, observing that "the camerawork is full of fast, MTV-style cuts, which, combined with the flashing lights, is more headache-inducing than the music."

Track listing

# "Disciple" (

Jeff Hanneman Jeffrey John Hanneman (January 31, 1964 – May 2, 2013) was an American musician, best known as a founding member and guitarist of the thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman composed both music and lyrics for every Slayer album until his death in 20 ...

Kerry King Kerry Ray King (born June 3, 1964) is an American musician, best known for being the co-lead guitarist and songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and remained a member for nearly four decades. ...

) # "War Ensemble" (

, Hanneman) # "Stain of Mind" (Hanneman, King) # "New Faith" (King) # "Postmortem" (Hanneman) # "

Raining Blood "Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album ''Reign in Blood'', the song's religious concept is about overthrowing Heaven. The song is four minutes and fo ...

" (Hanneman, King) # "Hell Awaits" (Hanneman, King) # "Here Comes the Pain" (King) # "Die by the Sword" (Hanneman) # "Dittohead" (King) # "Bloodline" (Araya, Hanneman, King) # "God Send Death" (Araya, Hanneman) # "Dead Skin Mask" (Araya, Hanneman) # "Seasons in the Abyss" (Araya, Hanneman) # "Captor of Sin" (Hanneman, King) # "Mandatory Suicide" (Araya, Hanneman, King) # "Chemical Warfare" (Hanneman, King) # "South of Heaven" (Araya, Hanneman) # " Angel of Death" (Hanneman)

Personnel

This list of credits can be verified by

and ''War at the Warfield''s album-notes. *Tom Araya – bass guitar, vocals *Jeff Hanneman – guitars *Kerry King – guitars *

– drums *Vincenzo Amato – production assistant *David Anthony – producer, design *Eric Baecht – remote technician *Greg Bess – sound consultant *Anthony Bongiovi – director, editing, camera operator *Eric Braverman – voices, producer *Marcus Buick – control engineer *

David Caprio David A. Caprio (born June 5, 1967) is an American businessman, investor, lawyer, and politician who served as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from District 34. He was first elected on December 21, 1999. In 2010, Caprio was ...

– production assistant *Rod Carmona – producer, design *Scott Carroll – tape operator *Jerry Cell – engineering supervisor *David Chun – camera operator *Jean Luc Cohen – producer, design * Robert Cohen – editing, camera operator *Leonard Contreras – engineer *John Crane – technician *Matthew Dillon – producer, design *Christopher Downing – producer, design *Jeff Fura – production coordination *CJ Furtado – engineer *Ken "TJ" Gordon – guitar technician, bass guitar technician *Glenis S. Gross – executive producer *Chuck Haifley – crew *Sam Harden – lighting *Matt Harmon – camera operator *Matt "Fluffy" Hartman – guitar technician *Jim Henderson – reprocessing *Kieran Hughes – camera operator *Tom Hutten – producer, design *

Matt Hyde Matt Hyde (born June 19, 1964) is an American producer, engineer, mixer and musician. From 1982 to 1985 he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. While still at Berklee in 1984, he obtained an internship at Pyramid Recording Studio in Bost ...

– mixing *Jessica Jenkins – producer *Nick John – executive producer *Ted Kujawski – engineer *Craig Lacombe – producer, design *Chris "Lumpy" Lagerborg – drum technician *Ann Lakato – camera operator *Christian Lamb – camera operator *Tony Leone – producer, design *Alex Lokey – photography *Gabe Lopez – camera operator *James C. Moore – producer, design *Christine Ogu – remote technician *Dino Paredes – executive producer *Lionel Passamonte – liner note producer *Sue Pemberton – producer, design *Rick Sales – executive producer *Greg Santos – camera operator *Thomas Scott – production assistant *Bob Skye – engineer *

Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...

– video engineer *David Stelzer – executive producer *Matthew Thayer – camera operator *Frank Vu – production assistant *Joe Weir – technician * Mark Weiss – photography

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Good article 2003 video albums 2003 live albums Live video albums Slayer live albums Slayer video albums American Recordings (record label) live albums American Recordings (record label) video albums