Tonight I saw the American Carnage tour.

Antrax just needs to call it quits (again). Megadeath was technically good but I still don't care. Slayer made up for everything.

I got to hear all of Seasons in the Abyss, 2 tracks from the latest ("World Painted Blood", "Hatred Worldwide") plus "Angel of Death".

Last week, I saw Kylesa and Torche at an all ages show that was actually about 100 adults and a bar. Oh, admission was $5...and a $15 t-shirt came with a drop card for the download of an entire album.

While Slayer and Megadeth shirts were $50.

Kylesa rules.

Wait, Slayer and Megadeath tees for $50? Are you sure that wasn't admission?

t-shirts at Slayer were more expensive than the price of admission.

that's sad.

Remember when Fugazi would charge $7.00 for their CD's? Bands could learn a lot from Fugazi.

Slayer always brings it. Did kylesa play many new songs? I'll be seeing them twice in 3 days on the 21st and 23rd... so psyched.

A small venue Slayer/ kylesa tour would be too much to handle.
We just saw Mastodon at a venue that holds 500, that was a nice treat.

The last time I saw Slayer, they were opening for Pantera right before they split. It was a fantastic show and while Pantera was bad-ass, Slayer reigned supreme. I would love to hear Seasons in its entirety. Sad to see tees selling for 50 bones though. I've never seen Megadeth but would like to check them out at some point.

I would love to see Slayer, but $50 for a shirt?!

Torche is awesome. Miami <3!

I find it funny all the griping about a $50 shirt but aren't most japanese boutique T's in that range, not trying to poke the bear just another one of those it's OK for them but not them skullbrain moments (and yes I understand conversion and shipping from japan, but everyone else needs to understand the cost of drugs and strippers on the drive between gigs)

PS megadeth Fing rules, not sure about there live concerts anymore but yeah end rant

I totally agree.

Most "streetwear" and artist based shirts are in the $40 - $50 price range which are sold from the comfort of their home or office online and no one seems to have a problem with that but a hard working touring band selling for the same is a problem?

In Japan, clothing costs are more expensive.

>Most artist based shirts are in the $40 - $50 price range
because Slayer made fifty thousand t-shirts and the artist made, eh, maybe a thousand at best. Probably more like a couple hundred.

I have worked in the silkscreen t-shirt industry a few times over the years and was involved with all aspects of it.

A $50 silkscreened t-shirt is fucking expensive.

I agree with that as well. Personally anything over $30 for a t-shirt is expensive to me. But I don't see anything wrong with Slayer or any other band charging $50 for a tour shirt. An artist should be able to charge what they think their work is worth. Also a big reason why bigger bands charge so much for merch is because that's their main source of income while on tour (after paying the venue 10%-15% for selling merch at that location). Bigger bands don't make much from playing a show, after paying for crew, food, bus(es), trailer(s), staging, ect., there's not a whole lot left when you split it between 4 or 5 people. That's not even counting what they owe the label for tour advertising. Smaller bands can get away with charging $10-$20 a shirt because they're on a smaller scale all together, the less people you have to pay the more money you can keep, the less you need to charge.

I have worked in the music industry a few times over the last 10 years and was involved with all aspects of it.

so should we thank you for the $50 t-shirts?

you make the music industry seem so painful...

Haha, it's not "painful" persay but it's more than showing up "rockin' out" and collecting revenue.

Also, I didn't mean to get into a whole debate about it, but I just know most people think bigger bands are being "rock stars" or "greedy" by charging that much.

I dig these facts but I have still seen a shirt with a nike swoosh go for $30-$40 may that would be a better comparison

Well, how does Slayer justify a $50 t-shirt? I've paid a pretty penny for a few of my t-shirts, but I get what I pay for.

How were the quality of the tees? Are we talking Gildan or Base Control?

I saw Torche in a 10' x 10' storage unit on a humid-as-fuck August evening here in Tampa. It was one of the most energetic and intense shows I have ever seen. Will never forget that.

(F all those other bands sans Kylesa.)

I'm just back from a free Negative Approach show.
Brannon screamed the fuck out of his lungs - it was beautiful !

Now that's how its done.