Photos: Slayer/Manson in Irvine

"SLAYERRRRR!!!"

That drunken battle cry, which sounded at around 7:30 p.m. Friday, should have been warning enough. But we silly photographers stood in the aisles of the outdoor Verizon Ampitheater tinkering with our cameras without a care in the world.

Then the lights went out and the ruckus onstage turned the audience into a barbaric mass. Two large, white skinheads walked up to the bouncers at the foot of the left aisle and tried to talk their way into the pit. But the boys in yellow weren't moving.

Far from deterred, they rallied their similarly burly pals. "There's only two of them!" yelled one guy, referring to the bouncers. "Let's go!" And at least a dozen people rushed forward, all elbows and fists, knocking us to the side in their rush to be closer to their metal gods.

I've got thigh bruises and photos to mark the occasion. Click the photo to see Slayer...and the group's rabid fanbase.

Also in photos: Marilyn Manson